The Supreme court can’t agree neither with calculation of Ministry of finance relating to reduced „basic expenses” of budget of the Supreme court, nor with additional reducement of expenses for 10% in the budget of year 2010, about which the prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis has asked, sending the letter to heads of independent governmental insitutions. Also, quandary of the Supreme Court has been raised by evaluation of functions of the court, given by social partners, who considered function of creation of uniform case-law and checking of legality and grounds of operative activities, realised in special ways, to be useless.

This year the budget of the Supreme Court makes Ls 2,8 millions, 93% of which make remuneration expenditures. According to data of the Ministry of Finance, „basic expenses” of the budget of the Supreme Court for the next year without assent of the court have been already reduced for 11%, it is, for Ls 315 896, although in the session of September 22, 2009, the Cabinet agreed, that equal reducement for 6% will be applied to all independent institutions.

In letter of response to prime minister the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ivars Bickovics indicates that the Supreme Court has made all possible steps, in order to reduce expenditures and optimize its work, and, while reducing financing as it has been demanded, the main function of the Court – provision of judicature in reasonable terms, will be essentially limited.

In its turn, it means that rights of person for fair justice, guaranteed by Paragraph 92 of Satversme, can be infringed. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court indicates that, if not providing the reviewing of cases in reasonable terms, the number of complaints in the European Court of Human Rights will increase, and it is possible to forcast that compensations, levied from Latvian State, will noticeably exceed those financial savings, that formers of Project of the budget hope to receive by reducing the budget of the Supreme Court.

At present time, when number of judges of the Supreme Court, confirmed by Saeima, makes 53, due to lack of financial resources in the court there work only 45 judges. As a result, number of cases pending, especially civil cases, has essentially grown – in the end of year 2009, according to prognoses, the number of cases pending will be for 44% more, in comparison with the beginning of the year. The cases that have been received today, have been set to review for January 2011.

However, in year 2009 due to reducement of financing, the Supreme Court has not been able to execute one of its main functions in full volume already, it is, creation of uniform case-law, that will make negative influence the quality of court sentences.

Finally, the ability of the Supreme Court to execute its function – accept of operative activities, realised in special ways, established in the law „On operative activity” and accept of inquiries about secret data, being in hand of Credit institutions, which has been established in the „Law on Credit institutions”, have been endangered.

The Supreme Court draws the attention that all decisions that have been made relating to the budget of the Supreme Court, have been accepted in the closed sessions of the Cabinet, with no inviting and listening to the Supreme Court, and not taking into account that the budget of the Supreme Court in all positions differs from the budget of ministries and other central governmental institutions very much.

 

 


Information prepared by

Head of the Division of Communications of the Supreme Court Rasma Zvejniece

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: 67020396, 28652211