Source: : Blic
Comments - Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information
Although it was their duty under the law, several dozens of public authorities and public enterprises failed to comply with the orders given by the Commissioner for Information, claiming they had “taken legal action with the Supreme Court against the Commissioner”. Even a law student with the most average of grades would know such legal action is not permissible, and even if it were it would not delay enforcement, so it is rather hard to believe that institutions employing large numbers of lawyers would not be familiar with this fact. But even if they had not been aware of this, they would have learned it from the rulings of the Supreme Court, which rejected all such legal action as inadmissible. For some, even this “revelation” had little effect and they continued withholding requested information from the public. No sanctions have been imposed, and the Government, in breach of its obligations under the law, failed to enforce the decisions. As a result, some bodies even took similar inadmissible legal action in repeated identical situations.In such repeated cases, there is obviously no room for speculations concerning any lack of knowledge on behalf of the offending bodies. “Ordinary” citizens quite understandably have misgivings in a situation in which both government authorities and public enterprises ignore their obligations and take recourse to inadmissible remedies, ostensibly and ineptly tagged “legal”, in order to trick the public into waiving their constitutional rights, while the taxpayers pay for all this conundrum. This state of affairs is worrying, because it suggests the legal order is becoming a circus without any rules that cannot be twisted or bent. The Government should all the more be on the alert, because they have not only the power, but also a responsibility to act in order to prevent such situation
