| The Constitutional Court will examine the legality of ending the privatization of housing The new Housing Code, or more precisely the law on its implementation, has finally become the subject of consideration in the Constitutional Court. Judges will have to decide whether the ban on the privatization of social housing provided after March 1, 2005, as well as a complete ban on the privatization of previously received apartments since January 2007, is consistent with the Basic Law.
The reason for considering the cases was a request from the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, as well as a complaint from a number of citizens about the refusal of registration authorities to privatize housing. For example, one of the applicants, a disabled veteran of the Great Patriotic War, Khaidar Orlov, was provided with a new apartment for the 60th anniversary of the Victory. However, he was unable to become the owner of square meters, although neither he himself nor his family members had previously used their right to a one-time privatization of housing. The applicants believe that the contested norms place citizens who received housing after March 1, 2005, in an unequal position compared to those who received an apartment earlier. In their opinion, the law violates the constitutional principle of equality of all before the law. The applicants also refer to the fact that, in accordance with Article 55 of the Constitution, no laws should be passed in Russia that abolish or diminish human rights and freedoms.
This position of the applicants did not meet with understanding from the representative of the Federation Council in the Constitutional Court, Yuri Sharandin. “With this approach, we can talk about a violation of the Constitution with any tightening of legislation, since citizens ultimately find themselves in an unequal position,” Mr. Sharandin explained to a Vremya Novostey correspondent. - In this situation, it is necessary to separate the issues of law and the timing of the implementation of this right by citizens. At first, the right to free privatization of housing was given, then it was decided to terminate it after a certain period. What is the violation of citizens' rights here? This is a matter of law. If we talk about deadlines, I agree that they can be extended. And the corresponding projects will be considered by parliament. But this is no longer a question of the constitutionality of the challenged norms.”
The representative of the State Duma in the Constitutional Court, Elena Mizulina, went even further and asked the court to postpone the meeting, also citing the fact that the issue of extending the privatization period is already being discussed by the parliament. According to her, already in May, legislators should make significant amendments to the law on putting the code into effect, providing, in particular, for postponing the deadline for housing privatization from 2007 to 2010.
However, the court refused to satisfy the petition, agreeing with the applicants that this amendment does not restore the violated rights of citizens who received social housing after March 1, 2005 and were deprived of the opportunity to privatize it. What position the judges will take in this dispute will not be known soon, but it is already obvious that whatever the decision of the Constitutional Court, it can create many more problems than it solves. After all, the problem of a war veteran who received an apartment for Victory Day is just the tip of the iceberg.
If the court leaves the controversial provisions of the law in force, then the ban on the privatization of housing will hit hundreds of thousands of people on the waiting list who stood in line for decades, but did not manage to get an apartment before March 2005.
Commenting on the current situation in an interview with Vremya Novostei, Galina Khovanskaya, a member of the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation, explained that tenants of departmental housing will be in the worst position. For example, military personnel who joined the queue before the appearance of housing certificates in 1998 and had the right to receive housing within three months. “The Law “On the Status of Military Personnel” states that they have the right to purchase an apartment as their own, however, having stood in line for decades and never received an apartment before March 1, 2005, they will be deprived of the right to privatize it,” she said. Mrs. Khovanskaya.
If the Constitutional Court lifts all restrictions on the privatization of social apartments, such a decision could immediately put an end to all Moscow city programs to improve housing conditions. The Russian capital has remained practically the only region that continues to provide free housing to those on the waiting list. However, Moscow officials do not hide that the city will be able to solve the housing problems of the poor only if the square meters built at the expense of the budget do not immediately go into private hands, but remain in the social rental fund. Alexander GUDKOV |
|
