Court Annuls Santa Cruz Official’s Appointment Over Merit-Based Selection Breach
A court has annulled the appointment of Juan Ramón Lazcano as Director General of Urban Transformation in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, ordering the City Council to replace him with the highest-scoring candidate, Joaquín Mañoso.
The justice system has challenged the Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council’s handling of senior appointments. According to Diario de Avisos, the Contentious-Administrative Court Number 2 has annulled the appointment of Juan Ramón Lazcano as Director General of Urban Transformation for the "Santa Cruz Verde 2030" project, a role he has held since August 2024.
Judge Roi López Encinas has ordered the City Council to immediately remove Lazcano from the position and appoint architect Joaquín Mañoso, who earned the highest score in the merit-based selection process. The court also ordered the local government to cover legal costs, emphasizing that discretionary appointments do not grant authorities unlimited power to ignore the results of a fair competition.
The ruling centers on the City Council’s failure to provide a valid legal justification for bypassing Mañoso. The judge described the Council’s reasons for rejecting the architect as "vague and imprecise." Specifically, the administration cited an alleged conflict of interest—which the court found had no evidence—and concerns about Mañoso’s age. The judge noted that using age as a reason to favor a different candidate undermines the principles of merit and capability, unfairly penalizing the most qualified professional.
This case has reignited political debate over the position itself. Lazcano, a former councilor for the Citizens (Ciudadanos) party, played a key role in the 2020 motion of no confidence that returned José Manuel Bermúdez to the mayoralty. The PSOE has long argued that the directorate general was created as a political favor to reward Lazcano for his support.
The ruling highlights the friction between a government's right to choose its own staff and its duty to follow technical selection procedures. While the City Council has 15 days to appeal the decision to the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC), the court’s message is clear: any decision that ignores the results of a public assessment process must be backed by solid, objective evidence.