Appointed Director just 2 months before retirement age

On March 1, 2024, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences issued Decision No. 111/QD-KHXH appointing Associate Professor, Dr. Le Phuoc Minh (Director of the Institute for African and Middle East Studies) to hold the position of Director of the Institute for South Asian, West Asian and African Studies.

It is known that Mr. Le Phuoc Minh has announced that he will be old enough to retire on May 1, 2024. Thus, the decision to appoint Mr. Minh took place just 2 months before his retirement.

The Institute of South Asian, West Asian and African Studies is a large Institute because it was recently merged from the Institute of Indian and Southwest Asian Studies and the Institute of African and Middle Eastern Studies according to Decision No. 1587/QD-KHXH signed and approved at the end of November 2023.

The above appointment decision was made by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences pursuant to Decree No. 108/2022/ND-CP dated December 28, 2022 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.

Decree No. 115/2020/ND-CP dated September 25, 2020 of the Government regulating the recruitment, use and management of civil servants; Decree No. 85/2023/ND-CP dated December 7, 2023 of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 115/2020/ND-CP dated September 25, 2020 on recruitment, use and management of civil servants;…

Informing reporters, a full-time official of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences confirmed that the appointment was carried out in accordance with regulations. "Associate Professor Dr. Le Phuoc Minh, who is currently holding the position of Director of the Institute for African and Middle Eastern Studies, was appointed to the equivalent position of Director of the Institute for South Asian, West Asian and African Studies until his retirement, which is in accordance with regulations," he said.

What does the law say?

Informing reporters about the above case, lawyer Nguyen Cong Tin (AMI Law Firm, Da Nang Bar Association) said that, previously, Mr. Le Phuoc Minh was appointed to hold the position of Director of the Institute of African and Middle East Studies, for a term of 5 years (from November 2017 to the end of November 2022). Retirement age is May 1, 2024.

Therefore, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences did not sign the reappointment decision but signed the decision to extend the term of Mr. Minh's management position until retirement age, which is in accordance with the provisions of Clause 2, Article 49 of Decree 115/2020/ND-CP.

Specifically: "In case the remaining working years are less than 2 years until the month of retirement age, the competent appointing agency or unit shall consider and, if meeting all standards and conditions, decide to extend the term of holding the management position until the time of retirement age according to regulations."

From that, lawyer Tin believes that Mr. Le Phuoc Minh's appointment to the position of Director of the Institute for South Asia, West Asia and Africa Studies after the merger of the two Institutes as mentioned above is equivalent.

In addition, the issue of appointment in the case of merging public service units is regulated in Point a, Clause 1, Article 47 of Decree 115/2020/ND-CP (amended and supplemented by Decree 85/2023/ND-CP).

“1. Appointment in case of merger, consolidation, separation, reorganization, or conversion of organizational model:

a) In case of consolidation, merger, separation, reorganization, or conversion of the organizational model of a public service unit where the position held by the civil servant at the old public service unit is equivalent to or higher than the position expected to be held at the new public service unit, or in case of changing the name of the public service unit, the competent authority shall decide on the appointment without having to carry out the appointment procedure; the appointment term shall be calculated according to the old appointment decision.

In case the appointment term is less than 02 years, the competent authority shall decide on the appointment according to the provisions in this point or appoint according to the provisions in point b of this clause".

Dang Ngoc

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