From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 18, 2024
High Court petitioned against government plan for PM to directly nominate Civil Service commissioner
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel petitions the High Court of Justice to cancel the government’s decision to appoint the next Civil Service commissioner through the direct nomination of the prime minister, instead of through a search committee headed by a retired Supreme Court justice.
In a cabinet vote last Sunday, the government decided that the incoming Civil Service commissioner will be nominated by the prime minister and approved by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee.
The Civil Service commissioner oversees all the civil servants in the Civil Service, which runs public services in the country, and has authority over senior appointments, promotions, and dismissals in the Civil Service, the allocation of tasks within its departments, and disciplinary processes.
In its petition, Movement for Quality Government points out that a previous government resolution in 2018, approved following High Court rulings on the matter, had determined that future commissioners would be appointed in accordance with a process laid out by the attorney general.
The Attorney General’s Office determined in June that the commissioner would be appointed by a search committee headed by a former Supreme Court justice, but last week’s cabinet decision ignored this position.
“The government’s decision allows a the appointment of a political appointee to the position of commissioner, without their abilities or fitness for the position being examined,” Movement for Quality Government says upon filing its petition, and adds that the decision will allow the government to appoint an “unqualified and politically biased” individual to the position.
“Appointing a Civil Service commissioner in a political manner, without a deep examination of his qualifications and fitness for the position, is a certain recipe for harming the quality of public service and public trust in it,” the organization adds.
Following the cabinet vote to change the appointment’s process, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Here, there is no rule by bureaucrats who are above the people, who know better than the government,” noting that the heads of the security services are appointed by the government, and insisting that “if we don’t allow bureaucrats to decide the competence of heads of our security establishment, why must we make an exception for appointments to the civil service, and put it in their hands?”
