The request was filed by architect Vesela Toncheva who demanded a copy of the contract concluded between the Sofia Municipality with a private company for the restoration and management of the “Ariana” lake in Sofia.
The Sofia Municipality refused on the grounds that the company had not given its explicit consent for the disclosure.
The refusal was challenged before the Administrative Court Sofia – City (ACSC) with the help of AIP.
By decision of 6 March 2014, the ACSC repealed refusal by Sofia Municipality to provide a copy of the contract concluded with a private company for the restoration and management of the “Ariana” lake in Sofia. The court held that in this case had to be applied the legal presumption of existence of overriding public interest in disclosure of information related to the parties, the subject, the price, the rights and obligations, conditions, terms, and sanctions specified in contracts where one of the contracting parties is an obliged body under the APIA.
The decision of the ACSC was upheld by Decision No. 14040 as of 25 November 2014 (in Bulgarian) of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC). According to the supreme justices, the burden of proving a lack of overriding public interest lies within the obliged public body. In the particular case, neither the issued refusal, nor the evidence provided during the court proceedings, had shown the lack of overriding public interest.