The terms of returning an expropriated immovable property SK 39/15
Ref. No. SK 39/15
JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Warsaw, 12 December 2017
The Constitutional Tribunal, in a bench composed of:
Piotr Tuleja – Presiding Judge
Grzegorz Jędrejek
Piotr Pszczółkowski – Judge Rapporteur
Stanisław Rymar
Sławomira Wronkowska-Jaśkiewicz,
Grażyna Szałygo – Recording Clerk,
having considered, at a hearing on 12 December 2017, in the presence of the complainants, the Sejm, the Public Prosecutor-General and the Ombudsman, a constitutional complaint lodged by Ms D. M. and Mr A. M. with the Tribunal to review the conformity of:
Article 136(3) of the Act of 21 August 1997 on the Management of Immovable Property (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2015 item 782, as amended) – insofar as it does not provide for the possibility that the former owner, or his/her heirs, could apply for the return of an immovable property expropriated on the basis of a civil-law agreement in the event of the non-fulfilment of the public purpose for which the immovable property had been expropriated – to Article 64(1) and (2), Article 32, Article 21(2) in conjunction with Article 7 and Article 2 of the Constitution,
adjudicates as follows:
Article 136(3), first sentence, of the Act of 21 August 1997 on the Management of Immovable Property (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2016, item 2147 and 2260 as well as of 2017, items 624, 820, 1509, 1529 and 1595) – insofar as it rules out the right of the former owner, or his/her heirs, to make a claim for the return of an immovable property acquired by the State Treasury, or by a unit of local self-government, by means of an agreement referred to in Article 114(1) of the said Act, where the immovable property has become useless for the public purpose that justified the acquisition thereof – is inconsistent with Article 21(2) in conjunction with Article 31(3) as well as Article 64(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
Moreover, the Tribunal decides:
pursuant to Article 59(1)(2) and Article 59(1)(3) of the Act of 30 November 2016 on the Organisation of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Mode of Proceedings Before the Constitutional Tribunal (Journal of Laws – Dz. U., item 2072), to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder.
The ruling was unanimous.
Piotr Tuleja
Grzegorz Jędrejek
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Stanisław Rymar
Sławomira Wronkowska-Jaśkiewicz