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Lori Region Court of Common Jurisdiction is currently hearing 3 civil lawsuits regarding Vanadzor State Pedagogical Institute (VSPI). Two of the cases, ‘provost against former instructor’ and ‘former instructor against 17 VSPI employees’ are claims demanding compensation for damaging the honor, dignity, and professional reputation, while the third one, ‘former instructor against VSPI’ is for restoring the position and compensating for forced inactivity.

The mayor of Lernapat, Vano Yeghiazaryan, is representing the interests of the institute in two cases; ‘former instructor against VSPI’ and ‘provost against former instructor.’ In the first case, Vano Yeghiazaryan, is one of the 3 representatives defending the interests of the university (the other two are Vice Provost Susanna Tumanyan and legal consultant Levon Goginyan), in ‘provost against former instructor’ the mayor is acting as the representative of the interests of Provost Gurgen Khachatryan. Yeghiazaryan was present for two court hearings on September 15th and October 3rd, both starting at 3:30 p.m.

The next hearing of ‘Provost against former instructor’ is planned for 2 p.m., on October 11th. On that day, the mayor will act on behalf of the provost as well. We asked for an interview from Lori Governor, Artur Nalbandyan, in order to get clarifications regarding Vano Yeghizaryan’s activity as a village mayor. The governor advised us to send the questions in written form. With the written questions, we tried to find out from the governor whether the law establishes the working hours and duration of the working day of the mayor and whether he has authority to leave his work during working hours and be present in court, not on his behalf, but on behalf of a third party.

Governor Artur Nalbandyan clearly responded to the first question and stated: ‘According to the Labor Code, N2138 decision of the RA Government on 11.24.2005 “about establishing the starting and ending time for working in state and local self-government bodies and their subordinate organizations,” as well as Article 6 of the RA Legislation “about Community Service,” and according to the internal regulation of working discipline of community mayors, the staff of municipalities works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a lunch break from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.’

Regarding our next question about the authority of a community mayor to represent someone in court, Governor Artur Nalbandyan stated: ‘If the mayor of Lernapat, Vano Yeghiazaryan, was absent from the community to represent another person and do another paid job he violated Article 25 of the RA Legislation ‘about Local Self-government,’ which states that the community mayor cannot leave the community to do another paid job except creative, scientific, and educational work. However, if V. Yegiazaryan was absent from the community to represent a third person in court, deriving from his official (working) duties and authority, as well as out of necessity prescribed by other legal acts, then the acting legislation was not violated.’

If the governor does not understand the phrase ‘not on his behalf but on behalf of a third party,’ then the following part of his note is also not clear: ‘to represent a third person in court… out of necessity prescribed by other legal acts.’

In order to clarify the obscure parts and to receive a specific answer to the raised questions “Hetq” prepared the following note addressed to the governor. ‘On September 15th and October 3rd, during the officially established working hours, the Mayor of Lernapat, Vano Yeghiazaryan, was at the Lori Region Court of Common Jurisdiction to represent VSPI Provost in one case, and the institute in the other case. Does the mayor have the right to act in that capacity in court during his working hours, even if he took on this responsibility on a volunteer basis?

Arayik Zalyan, the lawyer of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor, believes that by representing a third person in court during working hours, the mayor violated the law. ‘It would be understandable if he represented his community members; that would derive from the interests of the community. But when it comes to the Lernapat Mayor representing the interests of a member of Vanadzor Community, it is nonsense,’ emphasizes the lawyer. He states that the mayor should perform his duties prescribed by law. And the law of LS-G does not have any Article authorizing the mayor to represent the interests of another person in court. ‘It is court representation that is performed by lawyers who are paid. Does a mayor have the right to conduct an activity that is not paid? I cannot say whether his service is paid or not, but regardless, it is court representation, it is not an activity to be performed by a mayor,’ Says A. Zalyan.

Zalyan also notices that the mayor, being an elected official, is prescribed to represent the interests of the community and to address community problems. The mayor is paid with money from taxes, which are paid by the residents of the community. Zalyan argues that the residents do not pay taxes for the mayor to represent a third person in court procedures but instead to address problems in the community.

“The mayor attends court to represent the interests of some person, while a community member goes to the municipality and encounters the secretary who is unable to give an answer to the resident’s questions,’ says the lawyer and brings his example. On October 3rd, at approximately 3-4 p.m., when the mayor of Lernapat was at the court hearing of ‘former instructor against VSPI’ in Vanadzor, the lawyer went to Lernapat to personally submit a written inquiry; however, the mayor was absent at that time. The secretariat? of the municipality was also closed during those working hours. There was no one at the reception hall and the lawyer only saw 2 or 3 people in the entire building. His note was registered on that date by the accountant of the municipality, who informed him that the mayor was at court, but she was unable to explain why he was there.

‘The mayor of Lernapat has 15 court cases in the Courts of First Instance and Appeals against some residents of his community, a reporter, and a human rights activist. He participates in 1 or 2 court hearings for each case. When the mayor is at court, who is working in the interests of the residents? How does a resident obtain a reference from the municipality? Does he wait for the mayor to return from the court session or does he work at night?’ wonders A. Zalyan, discussing the responsibilities of the mayor.

Source: http://hetq.am