Dozens of deputy heads in the judiciary resign before amendments to the Judicial System Act

In about a week, nearly 80, mainly deputy administrative heads in the judicial system, have resigned from their posts in order to take advantage of the currently applicable legal framework. It allows them, upon release from a management position, to return as regular magistrates to the court or prosecutor's office where they held a management position.

The information was announced by the Minister of Justice, Nikolay Naydenov, during the second reading discussion of the amendments to the Judicial System Act (JSA) in the Legal Committee. He specified that he was referring to unofficial data that had reached him regarding the submitted resignations.

His statement was made in the context of proposed amendments to Article 169 of the JSA by the "Progressive Bulgaria" parliamentary group. It is the expected change in this text that is considered the reason why some of the deputy heads in the judicial system have rushed to renounce their leadership positions while the more favorable regime for them is still in effect.

Currently, Article 169, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the JSA regulate the possibility, as an exception, for an administrative head or their deputy to be appointed from a lower-level judge or prosecutor. At the same time, paragraph 5 provides the following: "After release from the position of administrative head and deputy administrative head, the persons, at their request, return to the position held before the election as a judge, prosecutor, or investigator or remain in the position of judge, prosecutor, or investigator in the judicial body where they held the position of administrative head, respectively deputy administrative head".

In practice, this means that if a district judge is appointed as deputy chairman of an appellate court, after his release from the management position, he can choose – to return to the district court or to remain as a regular magistrate in the appellate court. It is precisely this possibility that is at the heart of the current legal situation, which many heads and deputies are trying to take advantage of before the changes take place.

June 5 was the deadline by which members of parliament could submit proposals for changes to the JSA between the first and second reading. During this period, "Progressive Bulgaria" presented several revisions to Article 169, aimed at limiting the privileges of administrative heads and their deputies.

The first of the proposals provides for the elimination of the possibility for deputy administrative heads in the judicial system to be appointed from a lower level. In other words, the practice of magistrates from a lower instance skipping "steps" in the hierarchy to occupy a management post in a higher court or prosecutor's office would be limited.

The second proposed change directly concerns paragraph 5 of Article 169 of the JSA. In it, the ruling party proposes text according to which, after release from the position of administrative head or deputy administrative head, the magistrates return only to the position held before the election – without the right to remain as regular judges, prosecutors, or investigators in the body they managed.

The proposed wording states: "After release from the position of administrative head and deputy administrative head, the persons return to the position held before the election as a judge, prosecutor, or investigator". This means that in the mentioned example, a district judge who became deputy head of an appellate court, after his release, will no longer be able to stay in the appellate court and will mandatorily return to the district court.

The third focus of the proposed changes is related to the evaluation of administrative heads and their deputies. The idea of "Progressive Bulgaria" is that a magistrate who received a "good" rating during an evaluation should not have the right to be elected as an administrative head. Thus, only magistrates with a higher rating will be able to be promoted to leadership positions, which, according to the proponents, should raise the management criteria in the judicial system.

The combination of these proposals outlines a significantly stricter regime for the career development of administrative heads and their deputies. It is expected that once the changes are adopted, the possibility of remaining in a higher instance after a management term will be eliminated, and the requirements for evaluation ratings will limit the pool of potential candidates for head positions.

It is in this context that it becomes clear why, for a short period, nearly 80 deputy heads have chosen to resign now – so they can take advantage of the current provision and keep their place in a higher instance as regular magistrates. It remains for the parliament to finally decide what the new regime will be and whether the restrictions proposed by "Progressive Bulgaria" will be adopted in their full scope.