There should be a six-month limit and other restrictions on appointees to acting leadership positions at government agencies to ensure the legislature’s right to ratify appointments, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wen Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) said on Friday.
Wen proposed the time limit on acting appointments for top independent agency posts through amendments to the Judicial Yuan Organization Act (司法院組織法), the Organic Act of the Examination Yuan (考試院組織法), the Organic Act of the Control Yuan (監察院組織法), the Court Organization Act (法院組織法), the Organic Act of the Central Election Commission (中央選舉委員會組織法), the National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) and the Organic Act of the Fair Trade Commission (公平交易委員會組織法), with the proposed changes forwarded for committee discussion.
The draft amendments would address the issue of temporary delegates to government posts while appointments to independent agencies are bogged down amid political disputes.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Grand Justice Hsieh Ming-yang (謝銘洋) has been acting president of the Judicial Yuan since October 2024. Nominees to fill the roster at the National Communications Commission were struck down by the Legislative Yuan in November last year, and the Executive Yuan appointed Chen Chung-shu (陳崇樹) as acting chairman running a skeleton crew.
Supreme Prosecutors’ Office head prosecutor Hsu Hsi-hsiang (徐錫祥) was nominated by President William Lai (賴清德) to succeed Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) as the office’s prosecutor-general when Hsing stepped down on May 7, but the legislature voted against Hsu’s appointment.
The Executive Yuan on May 8 appointed Hsu to serve as acting prosecutor-general.
Weng said she proposed a six-month limit and a restriction on people being reappointed to prevent the administration from appointing people to positions for so long that they become semi-official, circumventing the legislature’s right to ratify government personnel.
The amendments would uphold the separation of powers, she said.
Former Central Election Commission chairman Chen Yin-chin (陳英鈐) yesterday said that the proposals are an attempt to expand legislative powers and curtail the president’s personnel appointment powers.
The measure would only heighten the political standoff, he said.
The creation of independent agencies was intended to allow them to operate free from political controversies, but they are caught up in them, he said, adding that the KMT should allow the government to function properly.
Additional reporting by Lo Kuo-chia
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