Over the previous month, Tashkent Hokimiyat approved 66 documents, but concealed nearly 40% of these acts, amounting to 26 documents, from public access. This was revealed through an analysis conducted by Gazeta.uz, utilizing data from the E-qaror portal, which publishes decisions made by hokims and Kengashes of People’s Deputies.
Shavkat Umurzakov assumed the role of acting hokim of Tashkent on March 23rd. He issued his inaugural decision, which involved forming groups to promote the forthcoming referendum, on March 27th. Subsequently, the administrative head signed a total of 49 decisions and orders, of which 21 (42.8%) were withheld from public view. This included 17 out of 35 decisions (48.6%) and 4 out of 14 orders (28.6%).
At the same time, during the three-day period from April 12th to 14th, the acting hokim signed 14 decisions, of which 10, or 71.4%, were not made accessible to the public.
Since the change of hokimiyat leadership in late March, the parliament has adopted 17 decisions, five of which, or 29.4%, have been closed.
In comparison, since the first publications on E-qaror, former Tashkent mayor Jahongir Artykhojaev signed 2,443 decisions and orders from 7 July 2021 to 16 January 2023, of which 976 (almost 40%) have been concealed, including 772 of 2013 decisions (38.3%) and 204 of 430 orders (47.4%).
“Gazeta.uz sent an enquiry to the press services of the Uzbek Ministry of Justice and the Tashkent Hokimiyat.
The Justice Ministry highlighted that hokims have the discretion to determine which documents should be made public and which should remain undisclosed. As per the law, hokimiyats occasionally issue decisions and orders containing information with restricted usage, such as details pertaining to defence, security, personal data, and matters of guardianship or custody.
In November 2022, Gazeta.uz discovered that the hokimiyat had initially published, but later concealed, Kengash decisions regarding the city budget’s revenues and expenditures for the first half of the year. The Ministry of Justice subsequently confirmed that access to these documents had been reinstated.
At the same time, the capital’s Hokimiyat occasionally refrains from disclosing certain economic decisions to the public. For instance, while the hokimiyat allocated 18 billion soums for six festivals between May and August, all contracts were directly awarded and the documents were not published on the E-qaror portal. Subsequently, the General Prosecutor’s Office identified legal violations in the former Main Department of Culture in Tashkent concerning public procurement and reported the misappropriation of budget funds during these festivals.
