“exculpatory grounds” in accordance with Decree 33/1945 and that “therefore, he lost Czechoslovak citizenship”. The author appealed against this decision, which was confirmed by the Minister of Interior on 1 January 2003. He then filed an appeal in the Prague Town Court, which quashed this decision on 5 May 2004. It ruled that the Minister, in his decision of 1 January 2003, as well as the Ministry, in its decision of 31 May 2002, had issued these decisions “without the necessary argumentation”, arbitrarily, and had ignored evidence provided by the author’s father. The case, which was then returned for a third hearing by the Ministry of Interior, is currently pending before this organ. indicates that a complaint must be replied to within two months following the date it is served on the government department competent to handle it. The State party recalls that the author did not avail himself of these remedies, and thus did not exhaust domestic remedies. Further comments by the authors 5.1 On 19 November 1999, 25 June 2002, 29 January, 25 February, 16 and 22 December 2004, the authors commented on the State party’s submissions and informed the Committee of the status of proceedings before the Czech courts. The author reiterates that the decision of the District Office of 6 March 1998 was taken to formally satisfy the requirements laid down by the Constitutional Court in its judgement of 25 September 1997. He argues that the authorities arbitrarily, and against his express will, re-interpreted his application for resumption of proceedings on retention of citizenship into an application for verification of citizenship, and treated it under the State party’s current citizenship laws, rather than under Decree No. 33/1945 which should have been applied. The author claims that this decision was sustained by the appellate bodies without any further examination or reasoned decision. In his opinion, that an administrative agency arbitrarily and on its own initiative, and without giving prior notice to the applicant, re-interpreted his application and failed to decide on the initial application, constitutes a violation of his right to due process and his right to proceedings and to a decision, protected by article 14. 5.5 In each of his further submissions, the author confirms that the authorities, which oblige him to go through the same stages of appeal again and again, theoretically ad infinitum, are unwilling to process his case and purposively drag out proceedings. He invokes the “undue prolongation” qualification in article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of the Optional Protocol. Issues and proceedings before the Committee Consideration of admissibility 6.1 Before considering any claim contained in a communication, the Human Rights Committee must, in accordance with rule 93 of its rules of procedure, decide whether or not the communication is admissible under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant. 6.2 The Committee has ascertained that the same matter is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement for purposes of article 5, paragraph 2 (a), of the Optional Protocol. 5.2 In the case of the author’s mother, the Prague Municipal Authority decided, on 6 January 1999, that “at the time of her death, Josefa Czernin was a citizen of the Czechoslovak Republic”. The author points out that the authorities granted the application without problems in his mother’s case, as opposed to his father’s, and on substantially scarcer evidence. The author suggests that this inequality of treatment between his parents may be explained by the fact that his father owned considerably more property than his mother, and that most of his father’s property is state- owned today. 6.3 With respect to the requirement of exhaustion of domestic remedies, the Committee notes that the State party has challenged the admissibility of the communication in general terms. It also notes that the case of the author is currently pending before the Ministry of Interior, and that since the judgement of the Constitutional Court of September 1997 ordering the Ministry to cease its continuing inaction, the Ministry has heard the case of the author twice over a four year period. The two decisions issued by the Ministry of Interior in this case were quashed by the Prague High Court and the Prague Town Court, respectively, and referred back to the same Ministry for a rehearing. In the opinion of the Committee, and having regard to the absence of compliance of the Ministry of the Interior with the relevant decisions of the judiciary, the hearing of the author’s case by the same organ for the third time would not offer him a reasonable chance of obtaining effective redress and therefore would not constitute an effective remedy which the author would have to exhaust for the 5.3 On 19 October 2000, the Prague High Court overturned the decision of the Ministry of Interior of 17 June 1998 and determined that the case should be decided by reference to Decree 33/1945, that the impugned decision was illegal, that it defied the legally binding judgement of the Constitutional Court, and had violated essential procedural rules. 5.4 The case was then returned to the Ministry of Interior for a second hearing. On 31 May 2002, the Ministry held that Eugen Czernin, member of the German ethnic group, had failed to furnish sufficient 82