With respect to statute of limitations, the court
remarked that under article 186 of the Code on
Administrative Proceedings, public decisions must
be challenged within three months of the interested
person becoming aware of the violation of their rights,
freedoms and legal interests.83 The court was satisfied
that the plaintiff only became aware of the violations
in June 2022, and thus had acted within the stipulated
three months.
In light of the violations noted above, the court
invalidated decree no. 1544 as it applied to the
property of Shakhzade. While a rare legal victory for an
impacted resident, the judgement also highlighted the
precarity of private property rights. Where the right has
been taken away by government decision, action must
be taken within three months of the affected person
becoming aware of the rights violation. Second, the
Administrative Court’s decision on the illegality of the
decree only applies to the property of the petitioning
plaintiff; the deemed illegal decision is allowed
to be enforced against all other affected peoples.
Third, it also rests on plaintiffs being able to prove
property rights, drawing on the information systems
and personnel of the body accused of violating those
property rights.
28 A False Sense of Legality
An appeal was lodged against the Administrative Court
decision by the developer Steel Quality Business.84
A hearing was convened without Shakhzade’s
representative being present (her son in law), with the
court claiming he had been duly warned. The court
ruled that under article 1 of regulations contained
in decree no. 54 (cited in the lower court decision) –
which requires state authorities to first seize land in
accordance with the law and master plans – the relevant
due process requirements did not extend to the
construction of objects located on the territory of two
or more districts or regions. Because decree no. 1544
related to land spread across two Tashkent districts,
the regulations were ruled by the court not to apply.
This appears to be a misreading of the regulations.
The regulations state that the rules applicable for
land plots across two or more districts are set out in
Appendix No. 2, which echo the rules applicable to
land plots in a single district (see Table 2).85