The Ternopil Regional Prosecutor’s Office successfully upheld on appeal the return to the state of almost 110 ha of water resources in the Ternopil region.
The Western Appellate Commercial Court left unchanged the first-instance decision that granted the prosecutors’ claim against Berezhany City Council. The claim concerned the return of a plot with a pond to state ownership.
The case concerns a plot with a pond covering almost 110 ha and valued at 3.9 million UAH. The pond and the land beneath it contain hydrotechnical structures that are state property.
The land classified as municipal property contains hydrotechnical structures that belong to the state, which excludes the possibility of the plot being held in communal ownership. Because the state is the owner of these structures, it has the right to possess and dispose of the pond and the land beneath it, not the local self-government body.
“Earlier, the court had ordered the land returned to the owner and annulled the state registration of communal ownership rights to it. Not agreeing with that decision, the defendant appealed. However, the appellate court upheld the prosecutor’s position and left the decision of the Commercial Court of Ternopil Oblast in force,” the prosecutor’s statement reads.
