Whose Is Water? (part I)

Argument on water has been going on at court for two years. The problem is that a certain business owner obtained a license. However, some time later the license was revoked, then renewed again, and finally revoked. The business owner said that the reason for this revocation was a secret state draft and that he expects the Supreme Court to pass a final judgment.

 About the License

In 2005, according to documents, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources announced a competition on researching and obtaining underground drinking water in Kazbegi Region. Tamaz Seturidze, owner of the “Ckhra Tskaro”, was one of the contestants. He applied to the Ministry for the license and produced all the necessary documentations. At the same time, he petitioned the local government and asked them to mediate. Seturidze said, “although the ‘Georgian Law on Ground Resources’ did not envisage mediation, I acted according to the law’s intent and enclosed other documents with my appeal to the local government.”

On August 8, 2005, the Kakzbegi District Governor, Gogi Kirikashvili, sent a letter to the Ministry of Environment. The letter stated: “…We would like to petition the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to be allowed to participate in the bidding for underground water, and we ask for a license to carry out the project…” 

Having completed all the necessary steps, on September 16, 2005, Seturidze received on behalf of “Tskhra Tskaro” a 22-year license that was signed by the head representative of the Ministry, I. Kvashilava.

“On September 16, having received the license, I started my work. I set up staff schedules and started the research for obtaining the underground waters of “Navroza” and “Bidara”. It turned out that those waters were discovered 25 years ago. The pipelines were installed during the communist regime and they still worked. We needed registration and [a bid].  Eighteen hotels were using the water [without compensating the government]. It is ordinary drinking water that was supplied to Gudauri hotels for many years. There are some facts that show that the local authority had a secret arrangement with local hotel owners. However, we do not have proof. The state budget should have received an average of half million lari a year from the water,” said Seturidze in his conversation with the Human Rights Center.

Controversy and Abolishing the License

On September 23, 2005, Vasil Maghlaferidze, the Georgian President’s representative to the Mtskheta-Mtianeti Region sent a letter to Giorgi Papuashvili, the then Environmental Minister. The letter stated that Seturidze was granted a license on the basis of fraudulent documents.

Excerpt from Maghlaferidze’s letter: “According to our information, the license to the business owner, Seturidze, was issued on the basis of fraudulent documents. Those documents are a recommendation letter… issued by the Kazbegi District Administrative Board and a letter…issued by an ordinary person and not a public official. Consequently, these two documents were not sufficient.  We also have information that other documents produced by Seturidze were not sufficient, either, [to establish a basis for the license]. We ask you to study the documents once more and to abolish the license according to the law.”

On September 29, a week after the letter was sent, the Minister satisfied Maghlaferidze’s demand and issued decree #391 abolishing the license on “Tskhra Tskaro”. He put Kvashilava, the head of the License and Permits Department within the Ministry, in charge of executing the decree.

Finally, Seturidze’s license was revoked. “I worked for two months, and on the basis of Maghlaferidze’s fraudulent letter, they revoked my license. Then the prosecutor’s office investigated my complaint, and found violations. As a result, a criminal case was launched against the local authority for abuse of power.”

Afterwards the controversy continued at court. On October 13, 2005, Seturidze appealed to the Board of Administrative Cases within the Tbilisi Civil Court and demanded that the Environmental Ministry’s decree # 391 be abolished. On December 22, 2005 the judge, Giorgi Gvenetadze, satisfied the appeal. In his verdict, the judge described all the violations that were committed while revoking the license and demanded the abolition of decree # 391 of the Ministry.

After the court verdict, Seturidze tried to start work. On February 8, 2006 he received the water’s quoted rates from Kirikashvili, the Governor of the Kazbegi District. According to the document, every enterprise and factories should pay 2.20 Lari for one cubic liter of water and 0.50 lari for cleaning the draining water; each person should pay 0.20 Lari for using 50 liters of water a month

Seturidze worked for several months, but then the license was revoked for a second time. The reason for the situation was a report made by Irakli Kvashilava. The report was sent to the Minister Papuashvili, which stated: “According to the February 22 court decision, the Ministry was ordered to investigate all circumstances regarding the license and issue a new warrant. Regarding the situation, an oral hearing was conducted at the Ministry, which revealed legitimate reasons to abolish the license issued to “Tskhra Tskaro.” More precisely, Article 8 of the Law on Ground Resources was violated. The article required that the entities that use the resource located on state land are granted with the right of property of the land. The ministry grants the right to an entity after having agreed with the owner.  Oral hearing showed that the agreement was signed by unofficial people. Thus, we have all reasons to revoke the license. We ask you to make decisions regarding the case.”

On April 3, 2006, the miniter Papuashvili made a decree # 242 and the license on Tskhra Tskaro was reovked. The Environmental Inspection was put in charge of controlling the situation.

Seturidze said, “The administrative board gave me the quoted rates, and I started my activities. However, nobody let me work. They revoked my license for the second time because I did not own the buildings that were situated on the mineral water field. The Ministry has right to grant the right on property. The property on land is part of the license. It was a illegal reason.”

Seturidze took the contest to court again. The court upheld the revocation of the license, and he appealed to the Appeal Court, which sent the case to the Supreme Court without making any decisions. The Supreme Court has not discussed the case. Seturidze hopes that the court will arrive at a fair decision. Otherwise, he will rely on the Strasburg Court. Besides, he said that the state loses nearly half a million Lari in winter because the water is used inefficiently. Seturidze also pointed out that local authority has business interests in the mineral water.

Eka Gulua