After the Appeals Commission of the Government of Montenegro overturned the decision of the former mayor of Podgorica for the third time Oliver Injac about the shift Goran Janković, from the Capital City of that former commander of the Podgorica Protection and Rescue Service and his attorney, a lawyer Maja Zeković, did not inform about the proceedings in that case, even though the deadline for that expired in January.
This, among other things, was what Zeković told “Vijesti”. She said that then, and again in February, she had contacted the Capital City and the Mayor To Saša Mujović, sent a request for information regarding Janković's employment status.
As she states in the request, which "Vijesti" had access to, she notes that as his attorney, she has not received "any information about what measures and actions have been taken in relation to the latest decision of the Appeals Commission of the Government of Montenegro, which annulled the decision of the former mayor on his dismissal."
"Since all legal deadlines for action have expired, it is certainly clear that this is a matter of the local administration's inability to resolve this legal issue in accordance with positive legal regulations and professionally, so I hereby urge you to inform me about the request in question, but also about what you, as the new mayor, have done regarding the identified anomalies in the work of your predecessor and whether the failure to act in accordance with the requirements of the law and the failure to respond to inquiries from lawyers is a continuation of the already established bad practice," Maja Zeković states, among other things, in the request.
Regarding the status of Goran Janković, the Capital City did not respond to "Vijesti"'s inquiries sent by email on February 19th, and again on March 12th.
Goran Janković joined the Protection and Rescue Service of the Capital City from the Municipal Police in 2019, and his mandate was supposed to end this year. However, he was dismissed by former mayor Olivera Injac in October 2023. At the end of the same month, Zdravko Blečić was elected acting (acting) commander of the Protection Service of Podgorica.
Meanwhile, the decision to dismiss Janković from the position of commander of the Podgorica-based Olivera Injac Protection Service was overturned three times by the Appeals Commission of the Government of Montenegro.
In the explanation of the latest decision, the Commission states that the reasons from the disputed decision on Janković's dismissal from February of the previous year are "unclear and do not refer to the decision in the enacting clause".
"... Because the first-instance authority justified the termination of the dismissal procedure by conducting disciplinary proceedings against the appointee, and according to the Commission's findings, the decision should have been annulled and the case returned for a new procedure and decision," is the position of the Government Appeals Commission.
The document also states that Janković's attorney, lawyer Maja Zeković, asked the Government Appeals Commission to issue a merits decision annulling the decision to dismiss Janković.
"... Since it has been established without a doubt that, almost 11 months since the first decision on dismissal was made, a series of illegalities and omissions have accompanied this procedure. The appeal further points out that in the contested decision there is not a single word by which Injac could explain the established omissions that are prescribed by law and the statute...", the document states.
The Government Commission is of the opinion that the conduct of the disciplinary proceedings referred to by Injac in the dismissal decision "does not constitute a prior issue in the specific administrative matter."
"... On the basis of which the first instance body issued a decision to terminate the procedure for dismissing the appellant from the position of commander of the Protection and Rescue Service. This is because disciplinary proceedings are conducted in accordance with the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which provides for the imposition of disciplinary measures for serious violations of official duty (a fine for a period of two to six months, in the amount of 20 to 40 percent of the salary paid for the month in which the serious violation of official duty was committed and termination of employment), while the procedure and procedure for dismissing the head of an organ or service is fully regulated by the Law on Local Self-Government and the Statute of the Capital City, and in the same proceedings decisions may be made that may be different or contradictory to each other," the document states.
The Capital City did not respond to "Vijesti"'s questions, including who will be responsible if Janković eventually initiates proceedings regarding the fact that he has not received a salary since October 23, 2023, when he was dismissed. His employment record book, his attorney notes, is still in the competent service of the Capital City.
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