"Reinstate the general manager immediately": the Court of Cagliari rejects the Region

The general manager of the regional procurement office, Cinzia Lilliu, must be reinstated "immediately" in her position: the revocation of the assignment, signed by the councilor for personnel but ordered by the regional presidency, signed on 25 February, is "invalid".

It is a decree (therefore a precautionary decision) but the provision of the Labor Judge of the Court of Cagliari goes into great detail, which scores a point in favor of the defenestrated executive, in her dispute with the governor Christian Solinas, the counterpart for legal reasons.

Lilliu was among the regional directors, and members of the staff of the departments, who had been blown up after the reshuffle of the Giunta.

At Villa Devoto they had relied on the regional norm according to which «the attribution of general management functions must be
confirmed or revoked within the three months following the installation of a new Regional Council». So, the interpretation had been, once the new councilors are made, the administrative heads of their offices also change.

A wrong reading of the rules, according to the Court of Cagliari. And for more than one reason.

A general manager, for the judge Giuseppe Carta (who signed the decree that for now decides the appeal presented by the lawyer Roberto Murgia on behalf of Lilliu), with the reform of the Region desired by this junta, is not a "top" figure which can be seen as a fiduciary assignment, therefore easily revocable: above the general managers are the department heads. So the junta created the conditions for Lilliu to win the appeal.

Not only. According to the Court, a general manager can be removed from his post "only as a result of ascertained managerial responsibility, in the presence of certain conditions and the outcome of a
guarantee procedure punctually regulated".

The conditions weren't there. And there was no controversy. Furthermore, the reshuffle cannot be interpreted as the "installation" of a new executive, because the president remains the same.

Then Lilliu returns to her seat with immediate effect. The hearing on the merits is set for April 6. She had already won an appeal, because this is not the first attempt to "take her out".