Turan agency calls on MLSP to respect the law

Baku/13.05.20/Turan: The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the population flagrantly violated  the Article 50 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Article 8 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Mass Media, which obliges to provide information no later than 24 hours; Article 24.1 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Access to Information, according to which, a request for information is given by the respondent as soon as possible, but no later than 7 working 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.

The Agency received information that some of the citizens who applied for a one-time payment received an unreasonable refusal based on Article 4.1.3 of the Law of the AR “On Employment”. In the information request, the name of the specific citizen who received the refusal was named. The request was sent and delivered to the Ministry in writing by the postal service and was accepted by the representative of the Ministry. In an information request, the agency asked the ministry to answer the following questions:

1. Why was a one-time payment denied? (Please provide justification).

2. How many people received a lump sum payment in April 2020?

3. How many people were denied lump sum payment?

4. How many cases of unreasonable refusal of a lump sum payment have been identified?

After sending this information request, the agency received a statement about the unjustified refusal of two more citizens.

Turan Agency calls on the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the population Sahil Babayev to give an order to provide an answer to the information request. In case of non-compliance with the requirements of the law by the ministry, the agency will seek a response in court, as it did in relation to various government agencies.

“It sometimes takes a year to get answers in court. This is because the courts often act as lawyers for government agencies and deliberately drag out processes. However, in overwhelming cases, we seek answers. Now we have prepared a lawsuit in the European Court against the Cabinet of Ministers, which refused to respond to an information request, and this illegal action was justified by all national courts,” said Mehman Aliyev, director of the Turan News Agency.

The Agency also recalls that a refusal to provide information prescribed by law is considered in accordance with Article 9.3.8. Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Combating Corruption” as an offense related to corruption. –0-