This Tuesday, June 14, the Oral Fifth Municipal Administrative Court of the Judicial Circuit of Bogotá announced that the execution of the Land Management Plan (POT) was suspended, after being accepted the lawsuit that had been filed by the former candidate for mayor of the country’s capital, Miguel Uribe, after the Bogotá Council exceeded the 90 days it had to rule on this issue.
The legal argument of Uribe’s lawsuit is that the power that the mayor had to issue the decree was valid as long as the term of 90 calendar days was exhausted, counted since it was filed in the Council on September 10, 2021 and that were fulfilled on December 8 of the same year.
“This was a cunning strategy of delay, promoted by the district administration itself, with the purpose of distracting the councilors from the underlying issue and gaining the necessary time to reach the point of issuing the decree. In total, the project lacked 48 days of discussion, which makes the issuance by decree made by the mayor inadmissible,” Miguel Uribe had stated.
Through his official Twitter account, Luis Felipe Henao published the document that confirms the suspension of the Territorial Planning Plan of the capital. “I share the suspension of the Bogotá POT, I denounced its illegality from the beginning,” said the former Minister of Housing.
Henao had denounced several months ago that the Territorial Ordering Plan of the District expelled more than 500 thousand inhabitants from the capital of the country, in addition to endangering the ecological structure of the city because, according to him, it would generate illegal developments. In addition, he added that he had failed to comply with all the procedures in the Council of Bogotá.
Judge Samuel Palacios Oviedo considered that the 90 days that the Council of Bogotá had to report the decision, the days that were used to process the repercussions that prevented the debate were unduly deducted. The foregoing, because the correct procedure was to freeze the times and thus guarantee that the Council pronounced itself with its decision on the POT.
The Oral Fifth Municipal Administrative Court of the Bogotá Judicial Circuit resolved in its ruling:
FIRST: GIVE the procedure corresponding to the means of control of nullity and restoration of the right, to the lawsuit filed by SALUDTOTAL EPS-S SA
SECOND: INADMIT the demand for annulment and restoration of the right of reference, in accordance with the considerations set forth in this order.
THIRD: GRANT the plaintiff a term of ten (10) days, counted from the notification of this decision, to correct the claim in the terms set forth in the motives of this decision, in accordance with article 170 of the CPACA, under penalty of rejection.
FOURTH: Once the previous term has expired, the file will enter the Office to provide.
Given the decision, Miguel Uribe pronounced himself celebrating the ruling on his official Twitter account, where he also stated that the mayor’s office of Claudia López wanted to issue it arbitrarily.
“Justice proved us right. Court decrees provisional suspension of Claudia López’s POT. The strategy they used to arbitrarily issue it did not work for them. This is inconvenient and illegal. This decision gives hope. We must remain united in defense of Bogotá,” said the former candidate for mayor of the country’s capital.
This had been only one of the five lawsuits that were filed against the approval by decree of the Territorial Ordinance Plan of Bogotá, and in all of them it was stated that the POT was not fully discussed in the City Council. For this reason, many considered that it was a completely arbitrary decision by the mayor of Claudia López.
Thus, Bogotá would once again remain with the old POT that had been approved 15 years ago by former mayor Enrique Peñalosa. However, from the District, appeals to the decision of the Fifth Municipal Oral Administrative Court of the Judicial Circuit of Bogotá are being prepared.