October 10, 2024
On October 10, 2024, the Grand Chamber at the public part of the plenary session in the form of written proceedings deliberated the case upon the constitutional petition of the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of a separate provision of the second passage of paragraph 3 of the Procedure for reimbursement by persons of expenses related to their maintenance in higher education establishments with specific training conditions that provide police training, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 261 dated April 12, 2017 (hereinafter, the “Procedure”).
During the plenary session, the Court heard information from the judge-rapporteur Olga Sovgyria on the case regarding the content of the constitutional petition and the grounds for initiating constitutional proceedings in the case.
According to her, the Supreme Court appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to verify the compliance of paragraph 3 of the Procedure with the provisions of Articles 43.1, 43.4 of the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of reimbursement of expenses for financial support as expenses related to the maintenance of a person in a higher education establishment in the event of circumstances specified in Article 74.4 of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” No. 580-VIII dated July 2, 2015 (hereinafter, the “Law”).
In accordance with Article 74.4 of the Law, “persons studying under a state order in higher education establishments with specific conditions of study that provide police training, in case of early termination of the contract for education on any grounds other than dismissal from the police service under Articles 77.1.2, 77.1.4 of this Law, as well as police officers dismissed from the police service within three years after graduation from the abovementioned educational establishments on any grounds other than dismissal from the police service under Articles 77.1.2, 77.1.4 of this Law, shall reimburse the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine for the costs associated with their maintenance in a higher education establishment in accordance with the procedure determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine”.
The second passage of paragraph 3 of the Procedure stipulates that reimbursement is provided in the amount of expenses related to “monetary, food, clothing, and medical support”.
Olga Sovgyria stated that the content of the constitutional petition and the files attached to it showed the following.
The Kirovohrad District Administrative Court, having deliberated the case on reimbursement of expenses related to the maintenance of a person in a higher education establishment, concluded that ‘financial support is remuneration for work’ and ‘the requirement to return funds paid for work performed infringes on the constitutional right to wages (to earn a living)". As a result of this case, a judge of the Kirovohrad District Administrative Court appealed to the Supreme Court to decide whether to file a petition with the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the constitutionality of paragraph 3 of the Procedure.
Having deliberated the respective petition, the Plenum of the Supreme Court filed a constitutional petition with the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the constitutionality of a separate provision of the second passage of paragraph 3 of the Procedure.
In the constitutional petition, the Supreme Court claims that the disputed separate provision of the second passsage of paragraph 3 of the Procedure contradicts the “principle of remuneration of labour” and the provisions of Articles 43.1, 43.4 of the Constitution of Ukraine, according to which ”everyone has the right to work, including the opportunity to earn a living by work that he/she freely chooses or agrees to”; “everyone has the right to proper, safe and sound working conditions, to a salary not lower than that determined by law”.
The judge-rapporteur also informed that in order to ensure a full and comprehensive deliberation of the case, requests were sent to bodies of state power, scientific institutions and higher education establishments, in particular those within the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, as well as to the Member of the Scientific and Advisory Council of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, to express their opinion on the issues raised in the constitutional petition of the Supreme Court. The content of the responses will be examined at the in-camera part of the plenary session of the Grand Chamber.
The Court examined the case file in the public part of the plenary session and proceeded to the in-camera part of the plenary session for a decision.
The plenary session of the Grand Chamber was attended by the representative of the subject of the right to constitutional petition, Head of the Analytical and Legal Work Division of the Administrative Court of Cassation of the Department of Analytical and Legal Work of the Supreme Court Yurii Pyvovar, the Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Serhii Dembovskyi, representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine – Director of the Legal Support Department Denys Horbas.
The video recording of the public part of the plenary session is available on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the Section “Archive of video broadcasts of the sessions”.
