Local government boards of appeals

LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARDS OF APPEALS – state budget entities that are higher-level bodies within the meaning of the c.a.p. and the tax ordinance in individual matters in the field of public administration belonging to the properties of local government units (l.g.u.), unless specific provisions provide otherwise. The main task of l.g.b.a. is to perform instance control and extra-instance supervision over the activity of the l.g.u. in individual matters in the field of public administration. L.g.b.a. operate in the areas of their local jurisdiction, which is determined by the regulation of the President of the Council of Ministers (as of 2019 – there are 49 boards). The l.g.b.a. consist of full-time and contracted employees. Membership in l.g.b.a. cannot be combined with other functions: a deputy’s or senator’s mandate, a councillor’s mandate or membership in an executive body of the l.g.u.; employment in the municipality office, staroste’s or marshal’s office; membership in the council of the Regional Audit Chamber. Full-time membership of the board cannot be combined with employment as a judge, court assessor or prosecutor and employment in the same voivodship in the state administration. The l.g.b.a. bodies include the president and general assembly (president, vice presidents and other members). The president’s competences include, in particular, directing the works of the l.g.b.a., representing it outside, appointing the chairs of the adjudicating panels or issuing signaling provisions (in the case of significant deficiencies in the work of the body of l.g.u.). The general assembly’s competences include, among others, adopting organisational rules of the board, selecting members of the competition commission and candidates for the president of the board. L.g.b.a. are bodies competent in particular to examine appeals from → administrative decisions, complaints about orders, reminders, requests to resume proceedings or annul the decision. As a rule, the board adjudicates in a three-member composition after the hearing or in a closed session. Decisions, as a rule, are issued in the form of orders or decisions. When adjudicating, members of adjudicating panels are bound only by the provisions of generally applicable law (independence of adjudication). Control over the jurisdiction of the l.g.b.a. is performed by administrative courts, while the supervisory body in the field of administrative activity of l.g.b.a. is the president of the council of ministers. [B. Węglarz]

Literature: R. Bucholski, J. Jaśkiewicz, A. Mikos-Sitek, Samorządowe kolegia odwoławcze w systemie administracji publicznej [Local government boards of appeals in the public administration system], Warszawa 2016 ■ M. Kotulski, Samorządowe kolegia odwoławcze: wybrane uwagi na tle ustawy o samorządowych kolegiach odwoławczych [Local government boards of appeals: selected remarks against the background of the act on local government boards of appeals], „Samorząd Terytorialny” [“Local Government”] 2001, no. 6.