Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has reviewed proposals to further improve the country’s administrative justice system. The presentation covered initiatives to introduce around 15 new legal institutions and expand the powers of administrative courts.
Administrative courts in Uzbekistan began operating on 1 July 2017 at the initiative of the head of state. Since then, they have considered around 150,000 cases, with illegal decisions by state bodies overturned in more than 70,000 of them.
In addition, administrative courts have issued around 27,000 private rulings addressed to higher-level or other authorised bodies over illegal actions by officials.
The presentation noted that further development of the system would involve introducing new mechanisms based on international experience and modern requirements. The main objectives of the reforms are to strengthen judicial oversight of state bodies, expand opportunities for citizens and businesses to protect their rights, and ensure more effective restoration of violated rights.
Currently, citizens and businesses have one type of claim available in administrative courts to restore violated rights. The proposed changes would introduce proactive protection, including measures before a right is actually violated. Four types of claims are planned for this purpose.
The existing six-month deadline for filing a claim is also proposed to be revised. In particular, citizens would be allowed to file a claim without a time limit to establish that a state body has violated legislation.
The proposals also address challenges to regulatory legal acts issued by local government bodies. Currently, citizens cannot challenge such acts in administrative courts when they violate their rights. The proposed changes would allow them to directly file a corresponding complaint with a court.
The reform would also expand the powers of administrative courts in line with Article 20 of Uzbekistan’s Constitution. The article establishes that legal measures applied by state bodies to individuals must comply with the principle of proportionality and be sufficient to achieve the objectives established by law.
Administrative courts are proposed to receive powers to examine the legality and justification of state bodies’ use of discretionary powers when applying measures against citizens and businesses.
Another set of initiatives concerns enforcement of court decisions. If an official of a state body repeatedly fails to comply with a court decision after being fined for non-compliance, the court would notify the prosecutor to take measures предусмотренные законом.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev supported the proposed initiatives, stressing the need to ensure effective restoration of citizens’ rights in cases of serious violations, practical implementation of the constitutional principle of proportionality, greater accountability of state bodies and unconditional enforcement of court decisions.
