Prague, June 18 (CTK) – The Czech Transport Ministry will compensate people for administrative proceedings that were too long due to the inactivity of state offices, Ombudsman Anna Sabatova told journalists Thursday.
“The negotiations were rather tough, the ministry strongly resisted,” Sabatova said.
The basic sum paid to people for protractions will be 15,000 crowns for one year.
Similar compensation was paid by the interior and justice ministries in the past.
As of 2014, the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry started granting such compensation.
Sabatova said inadequately long proceedings related to the Transport Ministry mostly concerned disputes over roads and paths.
A dispute, in which a husband and wife complained about not being allowed to use an access road to their house lasted four years, although the ministry should make the decision within six or maximally 12 months. Finally, the ministry decided that the couple has the right to use the road.
Until now, people who claimed compensation for such protracted proceedings had to take the matter to court.
“It is a big success and a major step to boost the trust of citizens in the state,” Sabatova said.
She said the state should give satisfaction to its citizens if it fails to secure that its offices meet the deadlines set for their decisions.
Sabatova said her office wants to negotiate with other ministries that have granted no compensation for protractions so far, such as the regional development and the education ministries.
The Ombudsman Office has no data on the volume of compensations paid for protractions.
Sabatova said the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry paid from 6000 to 14,000 crowns for protracted proceedings concerning the labour offices. It is a symbolic way to admit that the state did not proceed correctly, she added.
