Leaders of the KMT and DPP caucuses in the National Assembly yesterday vowed to pass additional constitutional amendments that would remove the legal right of the Council of Grand Justices to receive lifetime stipends.
Although their announcement appears to have been based on a misinterpretation of the law, this has not stopped Assembly delegates from acting on the issue.
A total of four constitutional amendments -- including those meant to marginalize the National Assembly, and another abolishing the Council of Grand Justices -- were passed in a committee review session yesterday, and will certainly move as a result into the second-reading stage, expected on April 24.
One Assembly leader claimed the Council had previously made self-serving interpretations of the law.
"It has been proved that the Council interpreted the Constitution so that they could continue to receive life stipends after their terms expire," said Alex Tsai (
The article concerns the security of life tenure and salary of judges.
Tsai said that Grand Justices, whose tenure is based on a term system, have -- according to their own Interpretation No. 396, in 1996 -- likened themselves to judges.
DPP caucus leader Liu I-teh (劉一德) also vowed to fight this "self-fattening" of the Grand Justices.
"Some think revenge could be had through the abolishment of the Council. But abolishment at the time would only enable them instead to continue to get paid until they die," Liu said.
But in fact, Reinterpretation No. 396 concerns a separate category of public employees, and actually has nothing to do with the Council of Grand Justices.
Salary guarantees for Grand Justices is, instead, written into the Organization Law of the Judicial Yuan.
A 1992 amendment of Article 5 of that law stipulates that Grand Justices whose terms expire -- and are not renewed -- shall be regarded as judicial officials who have ceased to handle cases. This means that despite being retired from the Council, the law stipulates they receive lifetime stipend guarantees.
Instead of being a "self-fattening" reinterpretation by the Grand Justices, therefore, the fault -- if any -- lies with the Legislative Yuan.
In a strange twist of irony, the bill was proposed in the legislature in 1992 by President-elect Chen Shui-bian (
At the time, said one legal scholar, the spirit of the legislation had to do with securing the independence of the Council from political interference, not about improper interests.
"The article emphasizes that the Grand Justices' status and functions, while exercising their powers independently, should not be distinguished from those of court judges," said Hsu Chih-hsiung (
The National Assembly's gestures aimed at the Council were seen as revenge over the latter's reinterpretation of the Constitution, when they ruled that amendments extending the Assembly's own term were improper.
A total of seven amendments began their first readings in the Assembly session, with four amendments passing committee review yesterday.
One amendment marginalizing the Assembly -- a move supported by all major parties -- passed in a landslide vote, with 244 deputies out of 262 present casting an affirmative vote.
If passed, the Assembly's powers would be reduced to voting on the impeachment of a president or vice president, on constitutional amendments, and on proposals to redraw national boundaries when these are passed by the Legislative Yuan.
The Assembly would become a non-standing body, meeting for no more than one month on each occasion and being disbanded as soon as the requested measures are completed.
On each occasion, 300 delegates would be appointed by political parties on a proportional representation basis.
Amendments passed in yesterday's meeting must pass second and third readings in order to become part of the Constitution.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS