The Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration continues sending replies with no real answers to hromadas that have agreed to a voluntary amalgamation, instead of sending them conclusions on the compliance of the hromada decision with the current legislation.

On 4 April 2018, the Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration informed the Velykyi Bereznyi Rayon Council and Velykyi Bereznyi Settlement Council in a letter, that consideration of issues concerning amalgamation of hromadas of the oblast is possible only after the Supreme Court's decision. In fact, the Supreme Court's decision had been already valid for a week, as the Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration continued to wait for it. On 27 March 2018, the Supreme Court issued a Ruling No П/9901/491/18. By this document, it refused to open the proceedings in an administrative suit of the Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to repeal certain provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On Voluntary Amalgamation of Hromadas".

The sentencing analysis of the Supreme Court's Ruling states that the jurisdiction of administrative courts does not apply to cases assigned to the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

Expert Yuriy Hanushchak commented that in fact, this Ruling of the Supreme Court estimated the professionalism of lawyers and leadership of the Zakarpattia Oblast State Administration as unsatisfactory.

"Not only that the ruling is already valid for a week, and the oblast state administration is still waiting for it or pretends to do this ... It still reminds a situation when they spit in the eyes and say it is raining. The question is whether the head of the oblast state administration could not know, that the suit was directed not according to judicial jurisdiction? He had to know this. He is a PhD in Law. Could the lawyers of the oblast state administration not know it? No, they could not! Thus, they are not in their proper place. Why did they actually apply to the Supreme Court at all? It is a rhetorical question," commented Yuriy Hanushchak.

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