Cantonal Court upholds appeals of UNSA and Škrijelj: Municipal Court arbitrarily rejected registration of Rector Zaimović, must decide again

(Patria) - The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo issued a decision on December 16, upholding the appeals of the University of Sarajevo and Rifat Škrijelj against the decision of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo of November 15, 2024, which rejected the registration of Tarik Zaimović as the person authorized to represent the university in the court register, and the first-instance decision is annulled and returned for a new procedure to the first-instance court, confirmed for the Patria News Agency.

We recall that after he assumed the position of rector of the University of Sarajevo on October 1, 2024, documentation for the registration of Tarik Zaimović in the court register was submitted to the Municipal Court in Sarajevo already on October 2. The Municipal Court requested additional documentation, specifically a decision on the termination of the mandate of the previous rector, Rifat Škrijelj, which is not standard practice nor has such a decision been submitted before, but the Senate nevertheless adopted such a decision and it was subsequently submitted to the Municipal Court. However, the court again refused to carry out the registration because the court arbitrarily assessed the rector election process itself and therefore refused to carry out the registration.

The Cantonal Court fully upheld the appeals. The lawyers representing the University of Sarajevo clearly emphasized that the Municipal Court erroneously concluded that a special decision of the UNSA Senate is required for the termination of the rector's mandate, which is contrary to the Law on Higher Education because the rector's mandate automatically ends upon the expiration of the period for which he was elected.

“The court based its decision to reject the application on the arbitrary opinion that the procedure for adopting the Decision on the election of Prof. Dr. Tarik Zaimović was not lawful and formed that opinion without conducting the procedure prescribed by law. Through this procedure, UNSA was prevented from arguing before the court and defending its interests, and it was prevented from proving that the procedure for the election of Tarik Zaimović as rector was lawful.”

The appeal stated that this decision of the Municipal Court caused an unnecessary delay in the functioning of the institution.

Rifat Škrijelj's appeal also related to the fact that the court unlawfully imposed an obligation on the former rector to continue to be responsible in legal transactions for the obligations of UNSA, which he neither can nor wishes to accept.

The Cantonal Court found that the appellants had validly objected that the first-instance court had a wrong approach to resolving the application for registration in the court register, and the court was obliged to examine the existence of formal and material conditions for registration in the court register and decide on the registration request. The Cantonal Court finds that the court based its decision to reject the application on the arbitrary opinion that the procedure for adopting the Decision on the election of Prof. Dr. Tarik Zaimović was not lawful.