Is there a ban on court officials from passing their cars across the “Joakim Gruev” street?

An employee of the Plovdiv court complained that he did not have access to the parking lot in front of the central court entrance. The problem is described in a long report a Plovdiv24.bg:

“The President of the District Court – Plovdiv has banned the district court judges and court officials from driving their cars through Joakim Gruev Street, and every evening there is a traffic jam behind the court building and the collection of cars is delayed by more than 30-40 minutes.

For more than three years, all judges and officials drove their cars freely through “Joakim Gruev” Street, which is public municipal property, and joined the traffic on “Sixth September” Blvd. Since early October 2022 next to the he building, in the narrow part, next to the street “Khan Kubrat”, a concrete pot has been placed which prevents the passage of cars between the two parking lots.

This pot was placed in violation of the Ordinance of the Municipal Council – Plovdiv to ensure public order and, more specifically, art. 9 par. 1 paragraph 9 of the Ordinance, which prohibits the fencing of sidewalks and parts of roads with the installation of structures restricting the right of way, without specific authorization. For this violation referred to in art. 31 par. 2 of the Ordinance provides for a pecuniary sanction from BGN 3,000 to BGN 30,000. The offender is clear – the president of the district court, with the order of which this pot was illegally placed.

Will the Municipality of Plovdiv and more specifically the Municipal Inspectorate have the courage to respect their own regulations and impose an administrative penalty on the President of the District Court? If they comply with the ordinance, it will be proven that offenders have no color and position, but are treated equally. Otherwise, it will be clear that whoever violates the Ordinance will assume responsibility, but whoever supervises its legality can violate it without being responsible … How will he then administer justice in the name of the people?

By blocking off part of a passageway, the president discriminated against more than 400 people – district court judges and employees of the three courts, banning them from crossing a municipal road, which went on for nearly three years without problems.

Please check the case and after making sure of what is written, think about this issue, because without advertising things will continue and the violation will not stop! I am looking for your support as I am an employee and cannot get help from management, I will probably be fired if I raise this issue publicly! “

We checked the case and it turned out that the facts presented were slightly different. Here is what the president of the district court – Plovdiv, Judge Rozaliya Sheitanova commented:

“The order of parking and access has always been the same. The court has three parking spaces: one is located in” Joakim Gruev “street in front of the central entrance. The cars of the judges of the district court and the court of appeal, the official cars of the courts, ambulances, Bulgarian post offices and other institutions we collaborate with are parked here. it is located in via “Frederic Giulio Curie” and is reserved for the “Guardie di Corte”. The “Guardie di Corte” cannot park in front of the Palace of Justice, except on Saturdays and Sundays.

In 2019, al the renovation of the “Joakim Gruev” street. the barriers have been replaced and the electronic ones have been installed and all cars with access are equipped with “tags”. Then an ordinance was issued by the three presidents on the order of who must park where and it is expressly forbidden to stop in front of the stairs. The control is entrusted to the “Judicial Security”. However, this order was violated and sometimes there were up to 25 cars of offenders.

The only way to deal with the problem is to have no connection between parking 1 and 2, especially since the emergency exit is there and it is not correct to park there. We placed a stone planter in front of the emergency entrance to restrict access. We have applied to the administration of the “Center” Region to put a bracket in place of the vase, which was approved on November 3 and is awaiting the signature of the chief architect of the Region.

The claim that the download takes 30-40 minutes is categorically false. When a person correctly plans where to go, the exit takes no more than 6-7 minutes.

Access to parking has been changed since 1 October and employees can only enter where they are entitled. This was done to tidy up the parking lot. The spaces are not designed to accommodate more cars, but they are not enough “.