Got it done

OTK of local self-government moved from the department of justice to the administration of the region

The Pskov authorities set a record in the speed of the production of laws. If not all-Russian, then Pskov.

At the session of the regional Assembly on May 30, completely revolutionary changes to the regional law “On state registration of charters of municipalities in the Pskov region” were adopted in two readings at once.

If initially this not-so-harmless procedure was within the competence of the regional department of the Ministry of Justice, now the regional administration will directly read, edit and register municipal charters. As it turned out, there are no formal obstacles to this in the Federal Law “On the Basic Principles of Organizing Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation”.

At first glance, what's the difference? Actually big.

According to many observers, the newly minted Pskov law was directly brought to life by the conflict between the head of the Pechora region Alexander Rogov, on the one hand, and the governor Yevgeny Mikhailov and politicians close to him - Mikhail Gavunas and Vasily Salopov.

The deputies of the district Assembly, controlled by M. Gavunas and V. Salopov, adopted amendments to the Charter of the district, depriving the head of the district of part of his powers. The Department of Justice of the region refused to register them and returned the documents to the deputies.

But, as the proverb says, we are at the door, they are at the window.

At the very first working session of the Regional Assembly, the Law was… cardinally changed. The department of the Ministry of Justice was deprived of the right to register charters, the regional administration received it. Don't want to register what they bring to you? So you won't register anything.

Before the sheets of the freshly printed law had cooled down, they were transferred (or returned?) from the right (deputy) to the left (administrative) wing of the House of Soviets for the signature of the head of the administration, from where they very quickly migrated to the editorial office of Pskovskaya Pravda, where they were published in Friday, May 31st. Less than 24 hours passed between the adoption of the law and its official entry into force!

Further more. On June 4, Pechorskaya Pravda is already publishing a resolution of the regional administration on the registration of amendments to the charter of the Pechorsky district - the very ones that the justice department refused to register.

Apparently, it's still just getting started. According to the information available to the editors, the plans of the team of M. Gavunas include the introduction in the charter of the Pechora region of the post of head of the district administration, elected not by residents, but by deputies of the district Assembly. The position of the head of local self-government in this scenario becomes purely decorative. And this despite the fact that the constitutional powers of an elected official cannot be changed before the expiration of his term of office.

Without even considering the issue of the formal legality of the decisions taken by the governor and district deputies, let's ask ourselves another, no less significant, question: what will come of all this? What will be the already difficult fate of local self-government in the Pskov region? How many more heads of cities and districts will experience the pressure of arbitrarily changing legislation just because someone does not like how the light of the windows in another house is on and who lives in it through the slit of the blinds on the windows of the Pskov “yellow house”?

And by the way, after such a sudden visit of the Prosecutor General, what is the prosecutor's office looking at? Or the new Code of Criminal Procedure, which comes into force on July 1, has not yet been read?

Alexey Alesin.