The Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office has identified violations in the work of officials with citizens' appeals

September 12, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The Prosecutor's Office of the Vitebsk region has identified violations in the officials' handling of citizens' appeals, as reported to BELTA by Olga Gritskevich, prosecutor of the department for supervision of legislation enforcement and legality of legal acts of the Vitebsk region Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecution officials checked compliance with Directive No. 2 "On measures to further de-bureaucratize the state apparatus," Decree No. 498 "On additional measures for working with appeals from citizens and legal entities," and the law "On Citizens' Appeals" in local executive and administrative bodies. "The study of this issue showed that the established system allows for resolving socially significant issues of the population at the local level and promptly responding to shortcomings in citizens' life support," noted Olga Gritskevich, emphasizing that, along with this, the results of the inspections also indicate that violations of the legislation on citizens' appeals are still widespread.

In particular, when considering some appeals, the verification is incomplete, applicants are not given answers to all the questions raised in the appeals, and the deadlines for considering appeals are violated. The prosecutor called the transfer of registered appeals to executors after a long time a serious drawback. Such facts were established in the Polotsk City Executive Committee. When considering individual appeals received from citizens during direct telephone lines, formalism and indifference to the problems of the population are observed.

Insufficient knowledge of the regulatory framework by the executive committee staff themselves also contributes to violations in handling citizens' appeals to some extent, according to the prosecutor. For example, in violation of the Regulations on the Procedure for Maintaining Records in the Verkhnedvinsk, Tolochin, Sharkovshchina District Executive Committees, the administration of the Vitebsk Railway District, and the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, materials on appeals do not contain documents on their consideration, based on which decisions were made. Materials on repeated appeals, including those with lengthy correspondence, are filed separately from materials on initial applications. In the Postavy and Sharkovshchina District Executive Committees, facts of accepting written appeals that do not meet the requirements of the law for consideration were revealed.

Cases are also common when, due to employees' non-compliance with the requirements of current legislation, citizens' appeals that are not within the competence of local executive and administrative bodies are accepted for substantive consideration. For example, the Novopolotsk City Executive Committee substantively considered an appeal from a former employee of an educational institution regarding disagreement with the dismissal date. Based on the results of its consideration, the management of the educational institution was instructed to change the dismissal date, meaning, in essence, the executive committee resolved a labor dispute, which, in accordance with Article 241 of the Labor Code of Belarus, falls under the jurisdiction of the court.

Violations in the registration of appeals and record-keeping for them were identified in the Verkhnekrivinsky Rural Executive Committee of the Beshenkovichi District, the administration of the Vitebsk Railway District, the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, and the Tolochin District Executive Committee.
 
"The identified shortcomings in handling citizens' appeals indicate the need to improve this activity," concluded Olga Gritskevich. "To a large extent, this situation is due to the fact that the work on qualitatively resolving appeals is not always considered by officials of local executive and administrative bodies as a crucial task related to meeting the needs of the population, creating conditions for normal life, and protecting citizens' interests," the prosecutor added.-0-