Translated material
Boos lost to former bosses
The Constitutional Court returned VIP pensions to retired government officials
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation declared illegal the deprivation of additional pension payments to former civil servants of the Kaliningrad region . The corresponding definition was published yesterday in the Kaliningradskaya Pravda newspaper. It comes into force in six months. It is curious that although the definition was adopted on April 3, it was made public only now.Six Kaliningrad civil service veterans appealed to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, disagreeing with the regional law adopted in October 2005, according to which former state civil servants are deprived of the right to a monthly supplement to the state pension from the regional budget. The average additional payment was 5 thousand rubles. per month. The applicants insisted that the deprivation of this increase infringes on their constitutional right to social security and worsens their financial situation.
The initiator of depriving ex-officials of additional payments was Kaliningrad Governor Georgy Boos (at the time of making this decision, he had not yet worked as the head of the region for a month). “I felt that I had no right to spend the money of Kaliningrad residents, our money, on ex-officials. The maintenance of the former governor alone would have cost us not even hundreds of thousands of rubles, but more,” he said then, justifying his proposal.
The law, which was promptly developed and entered into force, was immediately dubbed unpopular. If only because the VIP pensioners themselves loudly declared their disagreement with him. Speaking in the local media, they stated that they would sue the new governor if he did not come to his senses. “We are not asking for some kind of handout,” said Leonid Demachev, chairman of the Civil Service Veterans Association, former deputy head of the regional executive committee and two governors. - It’s just insulting and embarrassing! I now have a pension of three thousand. How am I living? Thanks to my wife - she supports me."
Defending their rights, former civil servants reached the highest court. Having considered the complaints, the Constitutional Court determined that the abolition of additional payments to the labor pension of civil servants was not justified by any objective reasons, for example, the deterioration of the financial situation in the region or the disproportionate nature of these additional payments. In addition, the regional authorities, in doing so, did not indicate the goals and principles that guided them when limiting the rights of VIP pensioners, that is, they arbitrarily abandoned the obligations they had assumed. Which is wrong, since the principle of maintaining citizens' trust in the law and the actions of the state must be respected. It involves maintaining reasonable stability of legal regulation and the inadmissibility of making arbitrary changes to the current system of norms, and, if necessary, providing citizens with the opportunity to adapt to the changes made during a certain transition period.
“The legislator of the Kaliningrad region, based on the requirements of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and taking into account this definition, should establish a new legal regulation of additional support to the labor pension for persons holding civil service positions in the Kaliningrad region, who were previously assigned and paid a monthly supplement to the pension for civil service. At the same time, his right to change, including downward, the amount of monthly additional payments to state pensions for persons holding civil service positions in the Kaliningrad region, as well as the procedure and conditions for their appointment is not excluded,” is stated in the ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.
Chairman of the Civil Service Veterans Association Leonid Demachev told Vremya Novostey that now, in his opinion, the regional government should compensate ex-officials for all unpaid allowances. He calculated that during the period the law was in effect, former civil servants were underpaid by approximately 36 million rubles. “This is not much for the budget, especially considering that our association has more than three hundred members,” said Mr. Demachev. He also noted that more than a month ago he sent letters to the regional government and the Duma with questions about when payments would be restored, but has still not received answers.
The regional government refrains from making any comments on the decision of the Constitutional Court. Governor Georgiy Boos is currently on vacation. As a source in the regional government told Vremya Novostei, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Shalimov intends to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday morning with the participation of lawyers and the regional Ministry of Social Policy and Labor. The conversation will focus on bonuses for civil service veterans.