Lietuvos Respublikos Seimui atskaitingų institucijų paskirtis

Abstract

The article analyses the mission of the institutions accountable to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in administration of the state. The study attempts to reveal the peculiarities of their legal status, the content of powers and the boundaries of the administrative jurisdiction of the institutions accountable to the Seimas, highlight the specific features of their activities, determine the essential differences in the legal status and authority of the institutions accountable to the Seimas and the divisions of the Seimas – committees and commissions, and to answer the question whether the institutions accountable to the Seimas are able to perform the functions typical of the subjects of public administration.
The institutions accountable to the Seimas cannot be ascribed to the legislative power or the parliamentary supervisory authority since, according to the Constitution, only the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania is eligible to adopt law acts and supervise the activities of the Government. Their mission is to provide possibilities to the Seimas to more effectively execute the parliamentary supervisory function the implementation of which requires objective information about the processes taking place in the state and society. The specificity of the institutions accountable to the Seimas is manifested through the fact that in possession of the powers laid down in the Constitution and/or law they act in public sector as independent subjects of the legal relations and implement the mission exceptionally entrusted to them, i.e. they perform the control of the activities of the state institutions by supervising the implementation of the law and other legal acts, and provide recommendations to the Seimas and/or other institutions. The status of the institutions accountable to the Seimas is inadequate, since the major principles of their activities and powers of some of them are defined by both the Constitution and the law, while those of others by law alone. The legal status of the institutions accountable to the Seimas is not equal to that of other subjects of administrative law as, by the Constitution and law, they are established and their leaders are appointed and dismissed by the Seimas, not by the Government. In the public sector they act in their own name, defending the public interest when it is violated by other participants of the legal relation. These institutions perform the controlling function through supervision of how the state institutions enforce the law and other legal acts, and submit to the Seimas and/or other state institutions information, conclusions and recommendations. The institutions accountable to the Seimas should present to the Seimas recommendations on ways to eliminate the violation of law or personal rights (when it is not done within a set period of time by the subjects of public administration), which would have a binding character. This kind of functioning of the institutions would correspond to the model of the administration of the state consolidated in the Constitution and ensure effective parliamentary supervision of the Government and other institutions. This would also allow defining a clear dividing line between the competences of the institutions executing public administration and those in control of this administration.