State Seized Property from the Union of Architects

Maka Malakmadze, Batumi

163 sq. meters of the Adjara office of the Union of Architects was seized by the state. The ministry states that the space was state property and based on the resolution of the Government of Georgia was assigned to them. The Union of Architects holds data of the inventory archive according to which the union was the owner of the space. The suit has already brought to the Batumi City Court.

“Ministry of Finances and Economics of Adjara Autonomous Republic and Batumi office of the Public Registry could not differentiate the state and public properties. According to the resolution # 01-22/130 of Davit Tsitladze, deputy minister, issued on January 17, 2008 the Batumi office of the Public Registry registered our space as state property which also belongs to the members of the Union of Architects,” said Revaz Gogitidze, head of the union.

163 sq. meters in the building in King Parnavaz Str. # 73 in Batumi was assigned to the Union of Architects by the Council of Ministers of Adjara based on the resolution # 834 dated by November 5, 1974. Regarding the fact there is a decision # 315 dated by May 14, 1975 issued by the executive committee of the City Council of Batumi Labor Deputies.

However, the union had not registered the property in Public Registry. According to the technical inventory the space of 163 sq. meters is registered on the Union of Architects which is the owner and there is no other shareholder of the property.” “The property, registered on the union according to the data from the archive of technical inventory, was not registered at the Public registry because the issue was regulated by the Law of Georgia on “Registration of Immovable Property”; the law is about obligatory and voluntary registration. In our case it was not necessary to register our property and it could be regulated by voluntary registration. We were informed about the fact that Ministry registered our property on its name only on May 19, 2008 when we decided to register it,” said Gogitidze.

The space of the union was assigned to the Ministry of Finances and Economics based on the appeal of January 17, 2008. The appeal states that: “please register the space as state property”… which was signed by Davit Tsitlidze, deputy minister.

Human Rights Center got in touch with Edisher Chavleishvili, head of the Property Management Department of the Ministry of Finances and Economics of Adjara Autonomous Republic. He said that according to the resolution # 585 dated by September 8, 2008 of the Government of Georgia the space was assigned to the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. The space was registered on the balance of the union but it does not mean that it was the property of the union.

It must be pointed out that the space of the Union was registered on the ministry before the resolution was issued. More precisely, the extract from the Public Registry confirms that “on January 23, 2008, based on the appeal of the Ministry of Finances and Economics of Adjara the space in King Parnavaz Str. # 73” was registered on the Ministry.

Kakha Tavdgiridze, head of Batumi Registration Service Office of the National Agency of the Public Registry, stated that they are registration agency. “We are obliged to register properties. But we are not responsible for the legality of the registration; the court shall decide this issue.”

Several days ago, the personnel of the union found the door locked when they arrived in the office. They applied to law enforcers for help but the Ministry of Finances and Economics claims that they have not sealed the office.

There are approximately 250 members in the union. They are going to appeal to the Strasbourg Court. The suit has already been brought to Batumi City Court. Reportedly, Judge Jumber Bezhanidze is in charge of the case. The hearing is not earmarked yet.