Last year, 148 inspections were carried out related to the enforcement of environmental and land legislation

 One of the important areas of work of the prosecutor's offices is the supervision of the enforcement of environmental and land legislation. Last year, 148 inspections were carried out on these issues, resulting in 444 acts of prosecutorial response, 696 individuals were brought to disciplinary, administrative and material liability, and compensation for material damage in the amount of over 289 million rubles was recovered at the request of prosecutors.

 

As in previous years, significant attention was paid to the enforcement of legislation on the regime of economic activity in water protection zones and coastal strips of water bodies, and the effectiveness of state control over land protection and use by local executive committees. The issues of compliance with legislation in the activities of such regulatory bodies as the inspectorates of natural resources and environmental protection, inspectorates for the protection of fauna and flora, and state forestry institutions were also studied.

In order to eliminate the violations of the regime of economic and other activities in water protection zones and coastal strips of water bodies identified in most regions of the oblast (accumulation of a significant amount of organic matter without proper embankment of storage sites on livestock farms, as well as on sloping territories, which can lead to waste entering  water bodies, pollution of these areas with domestic and other waste), 73 submissions and orders were sent to the heads of organizations and executive committees, 53 officials were brought to disciplinary responsibility, and 112 individuals and legal entities were subjected to administrative penalties.

Violations of legislation have been identified in the activities of territorial bodies of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection during inspections and the formalization of their results, in the exercise of control over the implementation of issued orders to eliminate legislative violations, as well as in conducting administrative proceedings and registering offenses (shortcomings in the preparation of protocols and the issuance of decisions, facts of consideration of administrative offense cases by an unauthorized person, incorrect qualification of offenders' actions, unjustified bringing to administrative responsibility, etc.).

Similar violations occurred in the Dubrovno, Miory, Ushachi, Senno inspectorates, and the Vitebsk Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, in connection with which prosecutors submitted representations to the heads of district inspectorates, and illegal decisions on administrative offense cases were protested. The regional prosecutor's office sent a representation to the Vitebsk Regional Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, based on the results of which the heads of three territorial inspectorates were brought to disciplinary responsibility.

     Non-isolated cases of non-compliance of protocols and decisions on administrative offense cases with the requirements of legislation, unlawful imposition of administrative penalties in the form of fines exceeding the amount provided for by legislation, and violations of the procedure for registering offenses have been identified during the study of the administrative practice of forestry institutions in bringing citizens and legal entities to responsibility for forest violations (State Forestry Institution "Orsha Leskhoz", "Postavy Leskhoz", "Disna Leskhoz").

"leskhoz" and others). To eliminate the identified violations and prevent them in the future, prosecutors have prepared relevant submissions.

The results of inspections of compliance with legislation on the use of lands allocated for collective gardening and peasant (farmer) farming indicate shortcomings in the exercise of state control by executive committees over the use and protection of lands.

Isolated cases of non-use and improper use of land plots located in horticultural associations have been established, as a result of which they are in a neglected state, overgrown with weeds and shrubs, littered with household and construction waste, and the existing garden houses and other structures are being destroyed (Chashniksky, Braslavsky, Lepelsky, Vitebsky, Gorodoksky districts, etc.). There were also cases of inefficient land use by peasant (farmer) farms, including overgrowth of land plots with weeds and pollution with household waste (Polotsky, Shumilinsky, Beshenkovichsky, Dokshitsky and other districts).

The identified violations were reflected in the relevant acts of prosecutorial supervision (prosecutors of the districts sent 5 submissions and 17 orders, initiated the preparation of 32 cases of administrative offenses, the regional prosecutor's office submitted a submission to the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee).

The work in the specified areas will be continued by prosecutors in 2016, especially since in accordance with the Decree

By the Heads of State Decree of 28.12.2015 No. 522, the current year is declared the Year of Culture in the republic, including the year of fostering culture and order in the land.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor
of the region for supervision of the enforcement
of environmental legislation  Elena Kozlova