Close Attention to Citizens' Appeals

The District Prosecutor's Office conducted an inspection of compliance with legislation on citizens' appeals at the Beshenkovichi Road Repair and Construction Department No. 110 branch of KUP "Vitebskobldorstroy". It was established that the management of DRSU No. 110 branch does not pay due attention to issues of implementing legislation on appeals from citizens and legal entities. In particular, the branch lacks a complete list of regulatory documents governing work with appeals from citizens and legal entities. Registration journals for appeals are maintained improperly, and in a number of cases, there are no marks indicating that appeals have been reviewed.

The DRSU No. 110 branch frequently receives information from the Beshenkovichi District Executive Committee regarding appeals received via the direct telephone line concerning road repairs, with instructions from the District Executive Committee management for their review. However, such information is not always properly registered (lacking an incoming stamp, details of the receipt date), and is not entered into the corresponding registration journal, which contradicts the requirements of paragraph 1, Article 13 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated 18.07.2011 No. 300-Z "On Appeals from Citizens and Legal Entities". The correspondence of the DRSU No. 110 branch does not always include copies of responses to citizens regarding the review of appeals received via the direct telephone line to the District Executive Committee.

During the inspection, facts of improper execution of the requirements of sub-paragraph 3, paragraph 1, Article 18 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated 18.07.2011 No. 300-Z "On Appeals from Citizens and Legal Entities" were established, specifically regarding the explanation to the applicant of the procedure for appealing a decision made in case of full or partial refusal to satisfy the appeal.

In particular, on 24.07.2015, DRSU No. 110 received an appeal from residents of Vyazhishche village, Martynovich S.E. and others, regarding the construction of an asphalt concrete pavement for the access road to Vyazhishche village from the M3 highway. On 31.07.2015, a response was sent to the citizens stating that the conversion of a gravel road to an asphalt concrete road is carried out through reconstruction or major repairs, which are not provided for in the program of relevant types of work for 2015-2019. Thus, the applicants were denied satisfaction of their appeal, but the procedure for appealing the decision was not explained.

There were isolated instances of appeals being reviewed in violation of the deadlines stipulated in paragraph 3, Article 17 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated 18.07.2011 No. 300-Z "On Appeals from Citizens and Legal Entities".

For example, on 22.10.2016, the DRSU No. 110 branch received a card from the District Executive Committee regarding an appeal from Chaplinsky A.V. concerning the grading and gravelling of the Nizhneye Krivino – Lnozavod road, with instructions to review and send a response to the applicant, with a control deadline of 01.11.2016. The response was sent to the applicant only on 01.12.2016, 1 month and 9 days later, stating that the road grading was performed on 24.11.2016. No notification of the reasons for exceeding the monthly deadline for completing the work and reviewing the appeal on its merits was sent to the applicant.

The responses sent to applicants are not always substantiated and do not contain complete information about the results of the appeal review or specific deadlines for certain types of work.

For instance, on 17.12.2016, an appeal from Ovchinnikova O.A. regarding the grading of the Asovets-Andruki, Khizova road was received via the direct telephone line of the District Executive Committee. Information about this appeal was sent to the head of the DRSU No. 110 branch, Chernyavsky P.I., with instructions to review and notify the applicant. On 21.12.2016, a response was sent to the applicant stating that the road grading would be performed under favorable weather conditions in 2017. Information about the deadlines for the work was absent from the response.