Armenian authorities want to attract more experienced and  knowledgeable specialists to Probation Service 

ArmInfo.The Armenian authorities want to attract more experienced and knowledgeable specialists to the Probation Service and prevent the loss of staff to other services. At its September 22 session, the National Assembly  Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia  issued a positive opinion on the amendments to the Law "On Probation  Service" submitted by the Armenian government.

Presenting the amendments, Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic  of Armenia Gevorg Kocharyan noted that, according to current  legislation, a Probation Service employee may be awarded the next  rank in the field of justice after serving a certain period of time.  This provision applies only to Probation Service employees.

Meanwhile, employees of various state bodies of the Republic of  Armenia working for the Probation Service, who have ranks and years  of service, are at a disadvantage when applying for a position in  accordance with current legislation regarding the calculation of  their length of service for the assignment of a rank. Consequently,  the question of calculating the length of service in this agency for  the assignment of the next rank to individuals who have worked in  other government agencies remains open. Under such circumstances, the  rights of these individuals are violated, and they find themselves in  unequal conditions.

Considering the above, it is proposed to supplement Article 11 of the  Law "On Probation Service" with a new section stipulating that when  assigning ranks in the manner prescribed by law, the length of  service in the corresponding rank (class rank) awarded in the  Probation Service and other government agencies is taken into  account. Furthermore, according to Part 2 of Article 35 of the law,  probation officers may be awarded an out-of-turn rank, including a  rank higher than that corresponding to the position they hold, as an  incentive measure, which may be applied to probation officers once  during their entire service.

However, Part 3 of the same article stipulates that the incentive  provided for in Part 2 of this article may not be applied to  probation service employees holding a high rank corresponding to  their position in the Probation Service and holding the highest rank  specified in Part 1 of Article 9 of this law. This has created an  internal contradiction: in one case, the law permits the assignment  of a higher rank corresponding to the position held, while in the  other, it prohibits it. Therefore, based on the above, it is  necessary to amend and supplement the law accordingly.

The amendments propose taking into account the length of service in  other government agencies for the assignment of the next rank, and  also provide Probation Service employees with the opportunity to be  awarded a rank one degree higher than the corresponding rank for the  position held as an incentive, with the exception of ranks higher  than the rank of Colonel of Justice.