CSL files lawsuits against the Water Permit and the Environmental Permit for the Hydropower Plant Lepenci 3

The Center for Strategic Litigation (CSL), a platform established by the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), has submitted: “Lawsuit for Administrative Confilct against the Water Permit and the Environmental Permit for the Lepenci 3 Hydropower Plant in Kaçanik issued by the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure”.

The plaintiff organizations GLPS and the NGO Gjethi have filed a Lawsuit for Administrative Conflict to challenge the Water Permit and the Environmental Permit for the Lepenci 3 Hydropower Plant in Kaçanik issued by the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure. This case is a continuation of the strategic cases which the Center submitted to the Court, which are related to the violation of the right of citizens to a clean and healthy environment. The Center raises in the court, cases of violations by the public institutions, which harm many citizens and through lawsuits and other legal means aims to regulate these violations, and at the same time, aims to raise public awareness of certain problems in our system.  Such is the case of the construction of the Lepenci 3 Hydropower Plant in Kaçanik.

GLPS and Gjethi consider that the process that preceded the issuance of the Water Permit and the Environmental Permit for HPP Lepenci 3, had the following legal violations:

(i) non-implementation of the Concession Procedure

(ii) lack of public debate or lack of adequate public awareness of it,

(iii) the degradation of nature which surrounds rivers and beyond, and

(iv) the denial of the right of the inhabitants of Kaçanik to drinking water and irrigation.

The plaintiff organizations aim to cancel all water / environmental permits and other decisions issued in this process, as well as to postpone the execution of these decisions until the court makes a final decision on the legality of the whole process.