BRATISLAVA, January 26, (WEBNOVINY) — Temporary extraordinary measures in construction of highways and carriageways, enacted during the term of the previous government, are in contradiction with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic and international agreements. At Wednesday’s public hearing, the plenum of the Constitutional Court decided on it, when challenging stipulations of the Law on One-Off Extraordinary Measures in Preparation of Some Highways and Carriageways Projects and the Cadastre Law. According to the court’s ruling, the state or any other entity may not build highways or roads on land they do not own.
“The legal norm allows also occurrence of a situation when owners may not de facto use their property, while creating inappropriate pressure on all owners and violating the right to peaceful use of property.
The representative of the plaintiff, current Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic and former opposition politician who contested the respective legal provisions during the previous election term, stressed in front of the court that the amended law strips property owners off their constitutional right to ownership without any compensation until the completion of the expropriation. Lipsic said he was afraid of creating a precedent, when similar approach would apply to further large investments, including private ones.
A group of 36 of then opposition parliamentary deputies, represented by Daniel Lipsic, contested the Law on One-Off Extraordinary Measures in Preparations of Some Highway and Road Projects, and the Law on Cadastre at the Constitutional Court in January 2008. They wanted the Court to decide that the contested stipulations were in contradiction to the Constitution and issue a preliminary injunction suspending the effectiveness until then. The disputed law was adopted in December 2007. The law enabled a time delay in acquiring ownership rights to land on which a highway is being built until the final approval of the completed project.
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