Judicial General Council
Constitutional judicial governance body
Mongolia's constitutional judicial governance body. Article 49 of the Constitution charges it with ensuring the impartiality of judges and the independence of the judiciary, selecting judges, protecting their rights and creating the conditions that guarantee the autonomous functioning of judges (OSCE/ODIHR Opinion on the Law on the Judiciary of Mongolia, 23 December 2021; OECD Baseline Report of the Fifth Round of Monitoring of Anti-Corruption Reforms in Mongolia, November 2024).
Under the 2019 constitutional amendments and the 2021 Law on Courts, the Council has ten full-time members serving a single four-year term: five judges elected by the General Assembly of Judges and five non-judge members appointed by Parliament through open selection. It is mainly responsible for the selection of judges and also deals with the budget and human resources of the judiciary, and its chairman is elected from among its members for one year (OECD, November 2024).
PEOPLE
Zolzaya Puntsag
Judge member elected at the Third Assembly of Judges, 9-10 October 2025 - Supreme Court judge (Montsame, reported October 2025)
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Davaadorj Gooshookhuu
Judge member elected at the Third Assembly of Judges, 9-10 October 2025 - Chief Judge of the Capital City Court of Appeal for Civil Cases (Montsame, reported October 2025)
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Munkhdvaa Magnaibayar
Judge member elected at the Third Assembly of Judges, 9-10 October 2025 - Chief Judge of the Criminal and Civil Court of Appeal of Tuv aimag (Montsame, reported October 2025)
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Janchivnyambuu Osordeleg
Judge member elected at the Third Assembly of Judges, 9-10 October 2025 - judge of the Bayangol, Khan-Uul and Songinokhairkhan District Courts of First Instance for Criminal Cases (Montsame, reported October 2025)
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Lkhagvasurengiin Ulziijargal
Judge member elected at the Third Assembly of Judges, 9-10 October 2025, in a re-vote for the first-instance seat - judge of the Administrative Court of First Instance (Montsame, reported October 2025)
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R. Ononchimeg
Non-judge member appointed by Parliament on 25 November 2021 and chair of the Council in March 2023 (AmCham Mongolia Weekly Policy Note, 25 November 2021; Supreme Court of Mongolia, March 2023)
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MONEY
Its own budget - DOCUMENTED
The Council is institutionally independent and manages its own budget, and it presents its annual activity reports to the Supreme Court (OECD Baseline Report of the Fifth Round of Monitoring of Anti-Corruption Reforms in Mongolia, November 2024).
RECORD
The first Council under the new system - DOCUMENTED
The first Assembly of All Judges was held on 11 October 2021 and selected the judge members by secret ballot from 16 nominees for five seats. On 25 November 2021 Parliament appointed the five non-judge members: N. Otgonchimeg, D. Erdenechimeg, N. Baasanjav, R. Ononchimeg and N. Munguntsetseg (AmCham Mongolia Weekly Policy Notes, 15 October and 25 November 2021).
The Third Assembly, October 2025 - DOCUMENTED
The General Assembly of Judges, comprising all judges and required by the Law on Courts to convene every two years, met on 9-10 October 2025 with 516 judges from 75 courts taking part in person and online. Fifteen judges had been nominated for the Council seats, eight from courts of first instance, six from courts of appeal and one from the court of cassation, and five judge members were elected by majority vote (Montsame, 10 October 2025).
Operating below full strength - REPORTED
A report published on 30 April 2026 stated that two of the Council's parliamentary appointees had yet to be confirmed, so the Council was operating with only eight of its ten members, and that civil society organisations had called on Parliament's Standing Committee on Justice to expedite the appointments (Mongolian Business Database news report, 30 April 2026).
The 2019 dismissal-law controversy - DOCUMENTED
Amendments adopted in March 2019 allowed judges to be removed on a National Security Council recommendation made on the Council's request. Analysis at the time noted that all five Council members were then appointed by the President, so the change expanded presidential and National Security Council power over the judiciary; the 2019 constitutional amendments and the 2021 Law on Courts then replaced that appointment system with the present mixed one (Mongolia Focus, University of British Columbia, March 2019).
A filled seal is documented. An open seal is an allegation, source named.
How to read this page. Every line names its source. A line marked ALLEGATION is a claim already published by the named source and already in the public record. Decode Mongolia republishes it as reported, with the source named, and has not verified it. An allegation is not a finding, and nothing on this page is proof of wrongdoing.