Public Defender has addressed the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili with a recommendation to assess legality of dismissal of Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili, the ex-Lead Specialist of PLLE State Technical and Constructions Supervision Agency from the occupied position and regarding control of hazardous industrial objects.

On December 28, 2012, Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili addressed Public Defender with an application. According to the application, on February 26, 2010, Mr. Ramaz Oboladze, the acting Head of the PLLE State Technical and Constructions Supervision Agency dismissed Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili from the position of Lead Specialist.

After assessing the case, the Public Defender regards that dismissal of Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili was not carried out in compliance with legal norms.

According to PLLE State Technical and Constructions Supervision Agency, it became necessary to decrease the number of staff and determine the optimal quantity of positions in order to increase effectiveness of the agency. Additionally, the number of sites supervised by the agency and therefore functions of Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili had been decreased in accordance with the Law of Georgia on Technical Risk Control.

It is worth noting that, the optimization that resulted from changes in legislation cannot be considered as legal grounds for dismissal of the applicant, as the Law of Georgia on Technical Risk Control was published and enforced on April 19, 2012, while Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili’s employment had been terminated 2 months prior to the enforcement of the given law – on February 26, 2010.

Amendments introduced to the Law of Georgia on Licenses and Permits, that abolished permits to run hazardous industrial objects is indicated as one of the grounds for dismissal of Mr. Nikolaishvili from the occupied position. These legislative amendments were adopted on April 8, 2010, and therefore cannot justify termination of Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili’s employment.

Despite the fact that, Public Defender has requested the information about reduction of staff positions in the Agency twice, the information has not been provided. The only legal act attached to the letter from the agency was the order on approving of staffing position list of the PLLE State Technical and Constructions Supervision Agency. The letter was accompanied by information on the staffing positions active as of March 9, 2010, therefore, after the dismissal of Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili.

According to April 26, 2013 letter of PLLE State Technical and Constructions Supervision Agency, Mr. Giorgi Nikolozashvili’s qualification, professional skills and experience had been taken into consideration when making the decision on his dismissal.

On June 18, 2013, the Office of the Public Defender submitted a written request to the PLLE State Technical and Constructions Supervision Agency for data on qualification and work experience of its staff members. Examination of the data accompanying the response letters revealed that the agency (ex-inspection) has no legal document defining skills and qualification necessary to occupy certain positions, and therefore, it is impossible to determine which employee is more qualified or what the bases for dismissing the employees were.

The Public Defender urges the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development to take legal steps in order to restore Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili’s violated right.

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Assessment of legality of Mr. Giorgi Nikolaishvili’s dismissal has revealed a serious legal problem, which may pose a threat to our citizens. In particular, based on the legislative amendments adopted in 2010, permits for operation of hazardous industrial objects are no longer issued and the state no longer controls execution of safety regulation for operating these objects. This may cause an irreversible and devastating damage in future.

The Public Defender calls upon the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, to initiate process of drafting legislation on issuing permits for operating the hazardous industrial objects and subsequent monitoring, as soon as possible.