Betzedek has filed an urgent High Court appeal regarding the
composition of the Allotment Committees at the local
authorities, whose task is to make recommendations on how to
allot buildings and lots, primarily for the needs of the
chareidi public.
Two and a half months ago Betzedek submitted a protest to the
Interior Ministry regarding the committee composition, but
the Interior Ministry failed to respond. Betzedek then filed
the court appeal in light of the absurd situation in which
local authority lands are parceled by illegal committees and
based on irrelevant considerations.
The appeal seeks to oppose a directive by the Interior
Ministry's Director-General instructing all local authorities
to set up new Allotment Committees in such a way that
excludes elected officials, instead bringing in authority
workers alone who are not always guided by the pure public
interest since they are employees whose boss is the local
council head (mayor).
The local Allotment Committee finds vacant lots designated
for public needs, assesses the needs of the public in the
area surrounding each lot and allocates the land or building
for public purposes as it sees fit. Government institutions
and supported bodies (including government-religious)
generally receive property without having to go through a
committee since they are generally included in the original
planning process, whereas the chareidi public, whose
institutions are not among the government institutions, must
submit requests and receive recommendations from these
committees. This is how land and buildings for chareidi
schools, batei knesses, mikvo'os — all
the basic religious services — are allocated in
chareidi and religious neighborhoods.
In 2001 the government determined that every locating
committee must be comprised of five members: three local
authority members (councilmen), the legal advisor and the
accountant. Several months ago the Interior Ministry Director-
General announced a new directive, replacing the elected
council members, who constituted the majority of the
committee under the old system, with the local authority
engineer, the director-general of the authority, and the
employee in charge of assets. These workers are subject to
the head of the local authority (mayor), who is generally not
from the chareidi public. As a result one individual —
the mayor — effectively makes the decisions and imposes
his opinion on the entire council.
In the appeal, Betzedek Director Attorney Mordechai Green
describes in detail how improper decisions by these
committees can lead to the construction of institutions not
suited to the local environs, which has happened at several
of the country's local authorities and as a result
irreversible, insufferable damage has been caused to the
local population.
The legal section of the appeal points to the Interior
Ministry Director-General's lack of authority to issue this
directive and the fact the directive stands in total
contradiction to fixed guidelines in municipal regulations on
the composition of council committees. Betzedek claims that
government intervention in local government must be kept to a
minimum and should be reserved for very special cases.
This claim is based on a legal precedent from a High Court
ruling, including a recent ruling made by a bench of seven
judges who determined that Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Zonenfeld and
Chaim Falk must be reinstated to the Jerusalem District
Planning Committee in accordance with the Mayor's demand and
against the opinion of the Interior Minister and the Attorney
General.
Betzedek also decries the trampling of democratic values by
removing the members of the local authority from the decision-
making process. According to the procedure that has come into
practice the officials determine the policies, thwarting the
voting public's desire to lead the lifestyle they choose.
This has the potential to cause the public irreparable harm
since in setting policy, determinations are made of the
public's real needs in every location, what reserves are
essential for future plans, etc. and every slanted decision
in these matter can harm the community for years to come, and
even alter its character, the composition of the population
and its spiritual institutions.
The appeal asks the High Court to issue an interim order to
maintain the original formulation for the composition of the
Allotment Committees prior to the Interior Ministry's illegal
directive. Ex post facto it was found the very act of
uncovering the attempt to take over did not succeed in
thwarting continuing illegal activity of this sort and
therefore Betzedek was left with no alternative other than to
file the appeal to the Court.
