Prosecutors will punish the mayor’s office for the holidays decision. But not strictly

Having decided to adjourn the school holidays, the Executive Committee of Uzhgorod City Council did break the law – the prosecutors demand to bring those responsible to justice

Prosecutors of Uzhgorod found out that the decision "On adjourning of autumn holidays" violated Part 3 of Art. 15 of the Law of Ukraine "On access to public information."

As explained by Uzhgorod city prosecutor Ivan Shtefaniuk, the prosecution conducted the inspection and found out that the extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of Uzhgorod City Council on October 25, 2013 decided to postpone the autumn break in secondary schools in the city on winter. By doing so, they violated paragraph 3 of Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine "On access to public information", which provides that the draft decisions of local governments shall be published no later than 20 working days prior to the day of their consideration for adoption. In addition, in violation of Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine "On Local Self-Government", which states that local government in Ukraine is based on the principle of transparency, the draft of the above decision was not published on the official site of Uzhgorod City Council. Also, the prosecutors established that the officials violated the Rules of Executive Committee of Uzhgorod City Council, paragraph 4.17 of which states that "in cases determined by law, decisions of the executive committee shall be communicated to the public." 

"Therefore, – Ivan Shtefaniuk said – I ordered Uzhgorod mayor to carry out an official check on negligient performance of duties by officials of the Education Department of Uzhgorod City Council during the preparation and adoption of the decision of the Executive Committee of Uzhgorod City Council and to bring to justice those responsible for the improper performance of official duties, weakening of the organization of work on the observance of the Law of Ukraine "On Local Self-Government" and the Law of Ukraine "On access to public information."

Press Service of the Prosecutor’s Office of Transcarpathian region