Public Defender addressed Mr. Davit Bakashvili, the Chairman of Lagodekhi Municipality Assembly (Sakrebulo) with a recommendation to assess legality of dismissal of Ms. Marina Gogoladze’s, public servant of Lagodekhi Municipality Assembly (Sakrebulo).

The Office of Public Defender has examined the legality of Ms. Marina Gogoladze’s dismissal from the position of Chief Specialist of Public and Media Relations of Lagodekhi Municipality Assembly (Sakrebulo).

According to the case files, on July 8, 2013 Ms. Gogoladze was dismissed from the occupied position by the decree the Chairman of Lagodekhi Municipality Assembly (Sakrebulo) for failing to perform or duly perform her assigned duties on multiple occasions. According to Lagodekhi Municipality Assembly (Sakrebulo) Marina Gogoladze failed to correct any of her mistakes, despite several verbal warnings.

It is noteworthy that no files have been found at Lagodekhi Municipality Assembly (Sakrebulo) on administrative proceedings regarding Ms. Gogoladze’s dismissal.

Despite the fact that the Organic Law of Georgia on Local Self-Government allows the discretion to the Chairperson of Assembly (Sakrebulo) to dismiss an employee of the assembly by his/her decree, at the same time he/she should be acting within the limits set by law when exercising this discretion.

According to the General Administrative Code of Georgia during an administrative proceeding, an administrative agency shall investigate all important case-related circumstances and render the decision through the evaluation and comparison of those circumstances. At the same time the issuance of an administrative act may not be based upon the circumstance or a fact that was not investigated by an administrative agency pursuant to applicable procedure. In the given case there is documentation proving Ms. Gogoladze’s failure to perform or duly perform assigned duties (commitment of disciplinary misconduct).

According to the General Administrative Code of Georgia “An administrative decree shall be declared invalid if it contradicts the law or if the procedures for the preparation and adoption of an administrative decree have been substantively violated”. Such violation of the law, absence of which would have resulted in a different decision upon the matter at hand, constitutes basis for declaring an individual administrative act invalid.

Public Defender regards that the decree of the Chairman of Lagodekhi Municipality Assembly (Sakrebulo), regarding dismissal of Ms. Marina Gogoladze from the occupied position, violates the law, as well as Ms. Gogoladze’s rights.