The Pomeranian voivode – at the time Dariusz Drelich – committed a gross violation of the law by not determining the amount of compensation to Gdańsk for the Westerplatte plot. The provincial administrative court ruled this and the judgment is invalid. The Pomeranian Voivodeship Office is currently analyzing the court’s decision.
Dariusz Drelich was the Pomeranian Voivode during the PiS government, until December 2023. The case decided by the Provincial Administrative Court concerns compensation for the acquisition by the Ministry of Finance of a piece of land on Westerplatte belonging to the city of Gdańsk in 2020 for the construction of the Museum of Westerplatte and the 1939 War; The Museum of the Second World War was indicated as an investor. The special Westerplatte law includes a procedure for granting compensation to the city for this area.
Information about the provincial administrative court’s verdict, which was handed down during a closed hearing on January 10, was first reported by Radio Zet. The judgment is available on the website of the Central Database of Administrative Court Judgments.
In a case concerning a complaint by the Gdańsk Municipality about the inaction of the Pomeranian Voivodeship in determining compensation for expropriated real estate, the court ruled that the Pomeranian Voivodeship had acted in gross violation of the law.
The Provincial Administrative Court obliged the Pomeranian Voivodeship – Beata Rutkiewicz since December 2023 – to settle the case within 90 days from the date of receipt of a copy of the final judgment together with the files and awarded the Pomeranian Voivodeship an amount of PLN 10,000 the complainant. PLN as compensation for the ineffective handling of this case by the voivode.
The case regarding the land in Westerplatte that was taken over from the Gdansk Municipality by the Ministry of Finance dragged on for several years. The dispute concerned the valuation of land.
The Gdańsk Municipality claimed that the land was worth almost PLN 19 million. The Museum of the Second World War ordered its own survey, valuing the land at PLN 3.7 million. Later the investigation was revised to PLN 7.6 million. Since the parties failed to reach an agreement, the case was referred to the Pomeranian Voivodeship and an administrative procedure was initiated in early January 2021 to determine compensation for the property. An appraisal commissioned by the then voivode Dariusz Drelich estimated the value of the land in Westerplatte at PLN 13.1 million.
No decision on the amount of compensation
However, for two years the voivode did not make a decision on determining the amount of compensation for Gdańsk, and finally in the spring of 2023 he asked the city to consider waiving compensation completely.
On July 31, 2023, Gdańsk authorities filed a complaint about the inaction of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The provincial administrative court reported that the municipality “requested the voivode to make a decision on the amount of compensation due to the complainant – within 14 days from the date of delivery to the authority of a copy of the final award, together with the files in accordance with art. 22 section 2 special laws; “In addition, she requested a declaration that the authority was guilty of passivity and a declaration that this passivity was a gross violation of rights.”
In the reasons for the judgment, the Provincial Administrative Court noted that “taking into account the fact that there were only two parties in the case – the Municipality of the City of Gdańsk and the investor – the Museum of the Second World War, which had twice estimated filed,” the voivode’s extension of “the deadline for settling the case to review and comment on the evidence and materials collected and the claims submitted by the parties – including the party that submitted the evidence – should be assessed as an intentional delay in the procedure.
In addition, it should be noted that a new deadline for the settlement of the case has been set three times due to the need to analyze compliance with formal and legal requirements and assess the evidentiary value.
– said the court.
According to the Provincial Administrative Court, the presented circumstances of the case clearly prove that the Pomeranian Voivodeship was inactive in the procedure conducted to determine compensation for a plot of land of almost 9 hectares in Westerplatte, and this “took place in gross violation of the law.”
The court took into account that due to the lengthy course of the proceedings in the case, the complainant’s interests had been violated by denying her the payment of significant compensation. In the circumstances of the present case, this violation is all the more reprehensible because the authority conducting the proceedings had no doubts about the most important evidence in the case, namely the valuation report drawn up at its request. There were therefore no circumstances that prevented the issuance of a decision to resolve the case
– says the justification of the judgment of the provincial administrative court.
Krystian Kłos from the Pomeranian Voivodeship Office in Gdańsk told PAP that the office is analyzing the verdict and a statement on the matter will be issued at a later date.
The press spokesman for the mayor of Gdańsk, Daniel Stenzel, told PAP that no decisions have been made on the matter yet and that the matter will be consulted with, among others, the new Pomeranian Voivode Beata Rutkiewicz.
READ ALSO: Five ideas for the development of the Museum of Westerplatte and the 1939 War. Announcement of the results in October
mly/PAP
Source: wPolityce