The administrative court of appeal has ruled that the authorities acted unlawfully by failing for years to decide on a citizenship application for the child of a Cypriot citizen, stressing that the administration has a duty to examine and respond to requests within a reasonable time, even where the final decision involves the exercise of discretion.

In a unanimous judgment dated July 17 and made public on Wednesday, the court upheld the mother’s appeal, overturned an earlier ruling by the administrative court and declared unlawful the authorities’ failure to decide on her application.

The case concerned an application submitted in 2016 by a Cypriot mother seeking to register her child as a Cypriot citizen under the Civil Registry Law. The court noted that, even by the time the appeal was heard, no decision had been issued on the request.

The administrative court had dismissed the original recourse, finding that the application had not been submitted directly to the competent authority, the council of ministers, but to the Civil Registry and Migration Department. It also ruled that citizenship applications fall within the discretionary powers of the council of ministers and therefore there had been no failure to perform a legally required act.

The court of appeal took a different view, clarifying that the case was not about whether the citizenship application should be approved, but whether the administration had fulfilled its obligation to examine the request and issue a decision.

It found that the mother was not seeking approval of the application through the courts but simply an answer to a request concerning an executive administrative act.

The judges said that under Article 29 of the Constitution and the General Principles of Administrative Law, public authorities are required to examine applications and decide on them within a reasonable period.

The court placed particular emphasis on the length of the delay, noting that the mother had received no response to her application from 2016 until at least 2022, when the first-instance judgment was delivered.

It concluded that such an extended period amounted to “an obvious failure” by the administration to fulfil its legal obligation to examine the application.

The court also upheld the mother’s argument that, even if the application had initially been submitted to the wrong administrative body, the authorities were legally obliged to forward it to the competent authority and inform the applicant accordingly.

Allowing the appeal, the administrative court of appeal set aside the first-instance judgment, declared the administration’s failure to respond within a reasonable time unlawful and ruled that the omitted administrative action should have been carried out. It also awarded the appellant €3,000 in legal costs.