To put it mildly, the Ministry of Labor of Social Protection deceives

Baku/01.06.20/Turan: We again have to return to the topic of correspondence between the Turan news agency and the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MLSP) for two reasons. In one case, the ministry in its belated official response letter provided false information, and secondly, it did not respond again to the agency’s next information request within the period established by law - from 24 hours to 7 days.

Turan News Agency sent an information request on April 29, 2020 (No. 483) in accordance with the law to the MLSP in connection with the implementation of the Action Plan approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on April 7, 2020. It provides for the payment of a lump sum for living wage (190 manats) for each month in April-May to persons registered as unemployed in electronic form.

No response has been received. The agency was forced to urge the ministry to enforce the law. Then the MLSP answered. Clarifications were given on a number of issues, including the reason for the refusal to help Ilgar Aliyev. The response letter of May 14 indicated that the refusal was based on receiving information from the information base of the Ministry of Agriculture. The information says that in the name of Ilgar Aliyev there is a land share. We sent a request to the Ministry of Agriculture. From there, they verbally informed that they did not have an information base on land shares.  They advised to contact the State Property Service of the Ministry of Economy. The Ministry of Agriculture promised to respond in writing to an information request. We are waiting.

On May 14, the agency sent an information request to substantiate the refusal of the MLSW to the married couple Imamverdi Rahimova and Zulfiya Rahimova in one-time assistance. However, no reply was received.

We repeatedly but unsuccessfully tried to contact the Department of Communications and Public Relations of the MLSP at (012) 5964961.

Turan’s information requests and the MLSP’s reaction suggest unhealthy atmosphere in the ministry, lies and deceit of citizens, are included in the arsenal of relations between the department and society.

We remind once again that the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the population flagrantly  violates the Article 50 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan; the Article 8 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Mass Media, which obliges the provision of information no later than 24 hours; the Article 24.1 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Access to Information which is given by the defendant as soon as possible, but no later than 7 working days. A refusal to provide information prescribed by law shall be considered in accordance with Article 9.3.8. Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Combating Corruption” as an offense related to corruption.

We are waiting for clarifications from the MLSP in connection with the information requests of Turan agency dated April 29 and May 14, 2020. In particular, why the ministry referred to the non-existent information base of the Ministry of Agriculture, and why it does not respond to the information request of May 14. — 0—