A blow to the rule of the officials: By a majority of two justices to one, the Supreme Court ruled today (Monday) in a petition by the Lavie organization that the Civil Service Commissioner does not have the authority to prevent the convening of the Civil Service Appointments Committee to consider a minister's request to dismiss a senior official.
Traveling in the Dan Bloc? Come choose your route on the Dankel Red Line
Judge Khaled Kabob was in the minority opinion.
This is a request by Economy Minister Nir Barkat to dismiss the Competition Commissioner, Michal Cohen - despite the position of Legal Advisor to the Prime Minister Gali Baharav-Miara, who opposed it.
The High Court rejected the position of the Legal Advisor to the Government, according to which there is room for a "preliminary examination" before convening the committee.
The Legal Advisor to the Government refused to represent the government's position on the issue.
The ruling was led by Justice Yosef Elron, who wrote: “Such a reading of the government’s decisions and guidelines, erects obstacle after obstacle; imposes reduction after reduction; and leaves an extremely narrow opening for the government to exercise its authority… All of this without sufficient anchoring in the language of the relevant legislation and guidelines or in their purpose – cannot be accepted.”
He emphasized: “There is no basis for ‘burdening’ all of this with additional restrictions, from a variety of different directions, that further restrict the hands of the entity authorized to appoint and dismiss the supervisor.”
He said: “The Commissioner was not authorized by any legislation to outright strike down a dismissal procedure initiated by the Minister of Economy. Therefore, he does not have the authority to do so.”
Judge Alex Stein, who joined Elron's position, wrote in his ruling sharp and clear words: "I reach this conclusion in a shorter way than my colleague, although his path is acceptable to me. The path I wish to follow is the language of the law. When the language of the law is clear and does not raise constitutional questions for discussion, we are obliged to rule according to it and only according to it. I will add and point out that although there is no unanimity of opinion 'from wall to wall' regarding this path, I believe that this is the correct path - the only one that has not been abandoned, and that all other paths lead us outside the realm of law - into realms that are not ours."
Stein added: “It is a shame, in my opinion, that the Commissioner does not have the authority to block the dismissal process in principle and prevent the minister from presenting his claims regarding the position holder before the committee.”
Stein also noted that the state's claims regarding the chilling effect cannot create authority out of thin air: “The statement that the world would be better with the existence of the claimed authority – which is not mentioned in any legislation – cannot create the authority out of thin air.”
In conclusion, the High Court ruled by a majority vote that the conditional order should be turned into an absolute order, and that the state should be required to convene the appointments committee as quickly as possible, and to pay the petitioner expenses in the amount of 15,000 NIS.
Attorney Yitzhak Bem, representing the Lavie organization: "I welcome the fact that the Supreme Court has reduced the power of officials, and has determined that legal officials cannot thwart the very discussion of a minister's request to terminate the tenure of a senior official.
"During the petition, we were exposed to the operating mechanisms of the Deep State and saw that according to the Attorney General's system, the very discussion of the question of ousting senior officials is prohibited unless legal advice approves. The Supreme Court today dropped the key to holding the discussion from the legal advisors and will require the Committee for Senior Appointments to convene and discuss the minister's request."
"We prevented an absurd situation in which the legal counsel could block the minister's appeals to the committee on its own accord. We welcome the Supreme Court's ruling and hope that it will bring us to a better balance between the power of elected officials and the power of senior officials."
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