Court Bans Infrastructure Ministry From Searching For New Heads For Ukrzaliznytsia And Boryspil

The Ministry of Infrastructure has received a ruling that the Dnepropetrovsk District Administrative Court issued on 20 February in connection to an administrative lawsuit. According to the press service of the ministry, the court ruling suspends the ministry’s decision to search for candidates for the posts of general director of the State Railway Administration (Ukrzaliznytsia) and directors of the Boryspil international airport and the Lvov airport. It also prohibits conduct of the next stages of selection of candidates until the court makes a decision on the lawsuit. "The case was launched in connection with a lawsuit filed by one of the participants in the candidate selection process, who failed to qualify for the next stage," the press service said in a statement.

A court hearing in this case will be held at 10:30 on 5 March.

"After the announcement of the decision to perform an open and transparent selection of candidates for the posts of heads of these state enterprises, the ministry has encountered resistance from various interested parties," the Ministry of Infrastructure said.

"These people have done so much to discredit the entire selection process, as well as the experts involved in it. The above-mentioned court case is one of such measures. The Ministry considers it unjustified, and it will appeal against the decision," the ministry added.

However, according to the ministry, it is ending the selection of candidates for the posts of heads of Ukrzaliznytsia and the airports of Boryspil and Lvov that was announced on the website of the Ministry of Infrastructure on 31 December in implementation of the court’s decision.

"Despite this, the ministry remains committed to striving to find worthy candidates for executive positions despite pressure from interested parties. Therefore, without waiting for the ruling in the case No. 804/3044/15, the consideration of which may be lengthy, the ministry will start new competitions in accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 777 ‘On the Competitive Selection of Heads of Business Entities in the Public Sector of the Economy’ dated 3 September 2008, a new version of which was recently approved," the ministry said.

"Unfortunately, this will cause another delay in appointing the heads of the above-mentioned companies. However, this measure is necessary to break the system and ensure that state enterprises are managed by qualified managers," the ministry added.