The Ministry of Justice is making controversial changes to the strategy of assigning cases to judges. A regulation amending the Rules of Procedure of the Courts was announced in the authoritative Gazette on Tuesday 30 September.
The fresh rules let the department president to waive the random allocation of cases in the composition of 3 judges. "The president of the department may decide, in the event of a request to improve the efficiency of the department's work, that cases examined in the composition of the 3 SLPS judges shall be assigned to referees and the another 2 members of the panel shall be appointed by the president of the department in accordance with the rules laid down by the president of the court after consulting the college of the competent court" - is simply a fresh provision.
Żurek: the strategy is optional
Justice Minister Adam Żurek stressed that the fresh strategy is not mandatory. "We give the chair of the department the chance (of its application) erstwhile it improves the procedure" - he pointed out. He added that a akin strategy already exists in the ultimate Court.
The MS chief argued that the changes would increase transparency and reduce the hazard of manipulation. "This strategy gives opportunities: we inactive have a random assignment of cases, but it gives the anticipation to draw a referee and "to co-opt" (the another 2 members of the composition) in a transparent procedure, which will be determined between the College and the president (the court) and the parties will know it" - he explained.
Chaos in the current system
According to Żurek, the current random case allocation strategy (SLPS) causes organisational problems. "There were situations where 1 justice had respective meetings 1 day, another had one. And there was besides chaos that led to an extension of case designation in appeal proceedings" - said the minister.
Żurek announced further legislative work on the system. "We'll be working on this by law to diversify this system. possibly we will make a strategy of random allocation as part of an appeal, but I would surely not want the best minister of justice to control it, due to the fact that present this minister is good, present he is simply a Democrat, next day he will be an autocrat" - he said.
President's harsh criticism
President Karol Nawrocki criticised the regulation on Friday, calling it a "ostentatious act of lawlessness". "The effort to replace the laws with a regulation strikes constitutional order and democratic legitimacy of the legislative authority. The designed rules for determining the composition of the court are intended to become non-verified in order to let for manual control of the selection of judges under political needs and expectations of the ruling" - he wrote on platform X.
The president appealed to the judges to "remain independent in their work and be subject only to the Constitution and laws." The change besides sparked controversy and criticism from opposition politicians.
Sources used: "PAP" Note: This article has been edited with the aid of Artificial Intelligence.
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