The ruling dismisses the appeal filed by Isidro Armas Díaz, who challenged the City Council's decision to keep the commissioners in their posts, even though the Supreme Court invalidated the bases of the internal promotion process that allowed them to ascend. The judicial decision does not directly question the municipal determination but emphasizes that the chosen path to try to reverse it is not appropriate, thus blocking an attempt to reopen the case through an official review.
The origin of this controversy dates back to the Supreme Court's resolution which, in 2013, nullified the bases of the internal promotion to fill three commissioner positions in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Although the decision invalidated the procedure, it did not expressly state what should happen with the appointments already made. Faced with this legal vacuum, the City Council chose to eliminate the process but kept the commissioners appointed in 2015, citing principles such as legal certainty and the good faith of the applicants.
The commissioners who remain in their positions are Carmen Delia Martín Mederos, current head of the Local Police; Rosa Rodríguez Arteaga, general director of Security and Emergencies of the City Council; and José Luis de los Reyes Almeida.
Administrative silence should be the exception, an isolated and singular anomaly, and yet it openly strives to become commonplace.
Armas Díaz's appeal, filed in 2024, focused on the City Council's capacity to decide on the future of these appointments. According to his argument, this decision should have been made by a judicial body and not by the local administration. The City Council's lack of an express response to his request led the case to the courts.
The court's ruling emphasizes that an official review is not the appropriate mechanism to challenge decisions made in execution of a final judgment. The magistrate dismisses this strategy, ratifying that any discussion about the effects of the Supreme Court's ruling must be raised in the judicial sphere, not the administrative one. Despite dismissing the appeal, the ruling does criticize the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council for not responding to the request, recalling the obligation to issue reasoned resolutions.
