The Administrative Court has ruled that the decision of the Council of Officials that Senad Jušić is eligible for the post of Director-General of the Police was unlawful.
After the government appointed Senad Jušić to the post of Director-General of Police with a full mandate last September, former Acting Director-General of Police, Boštjan Lindav, initiated an administrative dispute, arguing that Jušić did not meet the conditions when he took up the post.
Both Jušić and Lindav were assessed as suitable candidates by a special competition committee of the Council of Officials, which, among other things, verifies the qualifications of officials for certain positions. This, however, bothered Lindav, who is convinced that Jušić did not fulfil the conditions for the position.
A candidate for Director-General of Police must have at least 15 years of experience in the police and at least eight years of experience in managerial positions in the public sector. According to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), Jušić listed among his managerial experience “the position of assistant commander at the Koper Police Station and assistant head of the criminal police sector at the Koper Police Directorate”. It was the latter that was controversial for Lindav, who decided to initiate an administrative dispute last October.
When Jušić was appointed, the government and the Interior Ministry “resorted to a looser definition of managerial experience, according to which this includes experience in jobs that are ‘by nature’ managerial,” reports the newspaper Dnevnik. This, however, was apparently agreed on by a special competition committee of the Council of Officials, which led to Jušić being given a five-year mandate at the top of the police.
The Administrative Court Chamber pointed out that “it is not possible to ascertain from the reasoning of the decision of the special competition board how, why or on what basis the said board concluded that the interested party had eight years of relevant professional experience.” According to them, the reasoning is so deficient in this respect that it cannot be tested by the Court, despite the fact that it is, in fact, a legal requirement. For that reason, the decision is also unlawful, but it has not been annulled by the Administrative Court. “In the present case, there is no basis for a court to rule on the merits of the (non-)fulfilment of the competition conditions by the interested party, as this would constitute an unjustified interference by the court with the powers of the executive and administrative authorities,” they pointed out.
A lawsuit brought by the former Acting Director-General of Police against the government’s decision to appoint Jušić was dismissed. They said that the reason for the dismissal was that there was no violation of Lindav’s constitutional rights. “The post was open to the plaintiff because he was included in the list of candidates submitted to the Minister as a candidate who fulfilled the conditions of the competition and was suitable for the post,” the Court pointed out, adding that although a candidate was selected and subsequently appointed in respect of whom it was later found that “the decision of the special competition committee was not lawful, this does not mean that the post was not open to the plaintiff.” “On the contrary – it was accessible to him until the Minister’s decision, which is not legally binding, but a matter of political discretion,” they stated.
“The expected ruling!!! Lindav was right. Senad Jušić did not meet the conditions to become Director-General of the Slovenian Police and should never have held the post. This could not have happened during our mandate. We didn’t send him to Italy either!” former Interior Minister Aleš Hojs pointed out in a response on the social network X.
Those involved are expected to accept their share of responsibility
Lindav confirmed the information about the Administrative Court’s decision for the Delo newspaper shortly after the unofficial information was leaked. His lawyer, Gregor Verbajs, pointed out that the ruling confirmed that “the decision of the Council of Officials, the special competition commission … of the 4th of September 2023, which found that … Mr Senad Jušić meets the conditions of the competition and that he is suitable for the position of Director-General of the Police” was unlawful. “The unlawfulness of the decision of the special competition commission means that the appointment of the current Director-General of the Police was unlawful.”
“In view of the fact that the appointment to the post of Director-General of the Police by the government was an act of political discretion by the executive branch of power,” according to Verbajs, “the Court also correctly found that the action against the government’s act was not well-founded and dismissed or rejected it in this respect.”
Commenting on the ruling, the legal representative of the former acting Director-General of the Police said that he and his client “rightly expect that those involved will accept their share of responsibility”. “We will decide on the next steps with regard to the claim for compensation in the coming days,” he added.
According to the newspaper Večer, the recent court decision could have “fatal consequences for Jušić’s future path at the top of the police.” According to some interlocutors from the ruling coalition, there is an expectation that the government will dismiss Jušić. “Recently, information has been circulating behind the political scenes that he is being considered for the role of police attaché in Montenegro in the event of a lost lawsuit,” the statement added.
Ž. N.
