The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has submitted the request to the Government of the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with Article 28, paragraph 4 of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, to ensure enforcement of his decision, by direct coercion, ordering the City Administration of Belgrade to provide information to a group of citizens of the Municipality of Savski venac on whether the investor of the building in Dedinje, No.11 Koste Racina Street, has submitted a request for the legalization of the building, i.e. whether the procedure for legalization has been launched, and whether and how it ended.
Prior to the above, back in November last year, a group of citizens asked the City Administration to provide the information. The Administration ignored this request and failed to provide the answer. In addition, following the citizens’ appeal to the Commissioner, it also failed to issue any statements regarding the appeal. The Commissioner found the right of the requester, or the public, undisputable and issued a decision ordering the granting of the requested information. Even though the said decision was binding, the Administration failed to comply with the order; therefore, the Commissioner imposed statutory penalties at the request of the applicant. However, since the Administration failed to meet its liabilities even after that, the Commissioner submitted a request to the Government to ensure the enforcement of his decision by direct coercion, in accordance with its statutory liabilities.
The requested information is, quite obviously, a legitimate subject of public interest and there would not be a valid justification for its denial, under any circumstances. In this particular case, the information is a legitimate subject of public interest all the more so since the citizens stated in their request "that the investor drastically exceeded the floor area, number of floors, and other parameters from the authorized location requirements as can be seen in the document of the Property Inspection of the Municipality of Savski venac; and that the said building was designed for demolition, which can be seen in the Demolition Plan for the Second Quarter of 2016. However the investor has continued to advertise the sale of apartments and the fact that they are registered in the Cadaster; therefore, it is suspected that the said building was legalized in a legally questionable manner and that illegally constructed apartments are being sold".
The conduct of the City Administration in the present case is a typical example of the so-called mismanagement, which the Commissioner has already discussed with the Protector of Citizens, who will be forwarded the entire case file, as well.
By ignoring the citizens’ request and failing to act upon the binding decision of a competent public authority, the City Administration has committed several misdemeanors, which would have to give rise to oversight and response of the line ministry of public administration, without further Commissioner’ warning notices.
Finally, via such conduct the City Administration is refuting its own proclamations, which have lately become particularly pronounced, on combating illegal construction and fraud related thereto, and thereby some of the fundamental statutory principles of operation of every administration - legality, transparency, equality of citizens before the law.
