The Right to a Fair Trial and Within a Reasonable Time Deadline for Administrative Matters in Kosovo

Presenter Information

Mervete ShalaFollow
Xhavit ShalaFollow

Session

Law

Description

The Right to a Fair and Impartial Trial is one of the most important rights of the individual. This right is guaranteed with international agreements and instruments, and with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. Within the two Constitution provisions, Articles 31 and 32 explicitly determine that “everyone is guaranteed equal protection of rights in the proceedings before the courts, other state authorities and holders of public competencies ”; "Everyone has the right to a fair and impartial public hearing concerning the decisions for the rights and obligations or on any criminal charge brought against him/her within a reasonable time deadline by an independent and impartial tribunal established with the law "; and "every person has the right to use legal remedies against judicial and administrative decisions which violate his / her rights or interests ..."Whereas, the Law nr. 06 /L -054 on Courts in Kosovo, through Article 17 has determined that the Department of Administrative Affairs of the Basic Court of Prishtina with its jurisdiction over the entire territory of Kosovo, adjudicates and decides on administrative contests according to lawsuits against final administrative acts .... It judges and decides on the resolution of conflicts with competencies and on conflicts arising between different authorities of public administration. The question arises: Is it possible for the Court to carry out and review in practice the administrative matters within a reasonable time deadline?In the paper are raised the research questions, whether the Department of Administrative Affairs has managed to meet its duties and responsibilities? If not, what are the causes, the small number of judges and the large number of cases? Or should the Administrative Court and the Supreme Administrative Court be established?Statistical data show that the Basic Court of Prishtina, Department of Administrative Affairs, from January 2013 to June 2020, received 20.108 cases, of which 13,715 cases were resolved, but at the end of June 2020 remained unresolved 6393 cases. This shows that natural and legal persons and other parties have been waiting for years for the accomplishment of their right and interests, which have been violated with individual decisions or with the actions of public administration authorities. Based on the findings from the research, we have noted that in Kosovo it is necessary to establish the Administrative Court and the Supreme Administrative Court as a specialized institution for judicial control of the legality of the activity of public administration. This would create a certain standard of conduct of the public administration and would be a guarantor for a regular judicial process and within fast and reasonable deadlines, for the legal protection of the constitutional and legal rights, freedoms and interests of the subjects.The methodology used in this paper is mixed. This paper is based on the collection and analysis of primary and secondary data.

Keywords:

Natural persons, legal persons, public administration, Administrative Court, administrative conflict, fair trial, time deadline.

Session Chair

Nehat Idrizi

Session Co-Chair

Xhavit Shala

Proceedings Editor

Edmond Hajrizi

ISBN

978-9951-437-96-7

Location

Lipjan, Kosovo

Start Date

31-10-2020 10:50 AM

End Date

31-10-2020 12:10 PM

DOI

10.33107/ubt-ic.2020.263

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Oct 31st, 10:50 AM Oct 31st, 12:10 PM

The Right to a Fair Trial and Within a Reasonable Time Deadline for Administrative Matters in Kosovo

Lipjan, Kosovo

The Right to a Fair and Impartial Trial is one of the most important rights of the individual. This right is guaranteed with international agreements and instruments, and with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. Within the two Constitution provisions, Articles 31 and 32 explicitly determine that “everyone is guaranteed equal protection of rights in the proceedings before the courts, other state authorities and holders of public competencies ”; "Everyone has the right to a fair and impartial public hearing concerning the decisions for the rights and obligations or on any criminal charge brought against him/her within a reasonable time deadline by an independent and impartial tribunal established with the law "; and "every person has the right to use legal remedies against judicial and administrative decisions which violate his / her rights or interests ..."Whereas, the Law nr. 06 /L -054 on Courts in Kosovo, through Article 17 has determined that the Department of Administrative Affairs of the Basic Court of Prishtina with its jurisdiction over the entire territory of Kosovo, adjudicates and decides on administrative contests according to lawsuits against final administrative acts .... It judges and decides on the resolution of conflicts with competencies and on conflicts arising between different authorities of public administration. The question arises: Is it possible for the Court to carry out and review in practice the administrative matters within a reasonable time deadline?In the paper are raised the research questions, whether the Department of Administrative Affairs has managed to meet its duties and responsibilities? If not, what are the causes, the small number of judges and the large number of cases? Or should the Administrative Court and the Supreme Administrative Court be established?Statistical data show that the Basic Court of Prishtina, Department of Administrative Affairs, from January 2013 to June 2020, received 20.108 cases, of which 13,715 cases were resolved, but at the end of June 2020 remained unresolved 6393 cases. This shows that natural and legal persons and other parties have been waiting for years for the accomplishment of their right and interests, which have been violated with individual decisions or with the actions of public administration authorities. Based on the findings from the research, we have noted that in Kosovo it is necessary to establish the Administrative Court and the Supreme Administrative Court as a specialized institution for judicial control of the legality of the activity of public administration. This would create a certain standard of conduct of the public administration and would be a guarantor for a regular judicial process and within fast and reasonable deadlines, for the legal protection of the constitutional and legal rights, freedoms and interests of the subjects.The methodology used in this paper is mixed. This paper is based on the collection and analysis of primary and secondary data.