The Constitutional Court forbade the Cabinet of Ministers to limit the amount of pensions for Chernobyl residents

The Constitutional Court recognized as unconstitutional the provisions of the Budget Code, which allow the Cabinet of Ministers to determine the amount of pensions for disabled residents of Chernobyl, taking into account the financial capabilities of the state, writes censor.net.

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The First Senate of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine made the relevant decision at a plenary session on September 13, the press service of the court reports.

In particular, the KSU recognized as inconsistent with the Constitution, paragraph 26 of Chapter VI "Final and Transitional Provisions" of the Budget Code in the part that establishes that the provisions of Article 54 of Law No. 796 "On the Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl Disaster" are applied in the order and amounts established by the Cabinet of Ministers, based on the available financial resources of state and local budgets and budgets of mandatory state social insurance funds.

According to Article 54 of Law No. 796, a state pension is defined for persons classified in category 1 and in connection with the loss of a breadwinner. The same article establishes the amount of disability pension for persons classified in category 1, which occurred as a result of mutilation or illness as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, and the Cabinet of Ministers determines only the procedure for awarding such a pension.

KSU decided that Law No. 796 is special, it defines the main provisions regarding the realization of the constitutional right of citizens who suffered as a result of the Chernobyl disaster to protect their life and health, including the procedure for pension provision of such persons, and therefore social guarantees for this categories of persons should be established exclusively in this law.

"The court emphasizes that the amount of a disability pension due to disability or illness and a pension due to the loss of a breadwinner as a result of the Chernobyl disaster cannot depend on the available financial resources of the state and local budgets and the budgets of the mandatory state social insurance funds. Such pensions must be paid in the order and amounts determined by law. At the same time, the amount of pensions cannot be adjusted by the Cabinet of Ministers depending on the available financial resources," says the court's decision.

At the same time, the KSU recognized as constitutional Clause 26 of Chapter VI "Final and Transitional Provisions" of the Budget Code in the part that establishes that the provisions of Article 50 of Law No. 796 are applied in the order and amounts established by the Cabinet of Ministers, based on available financial resources.

In accordance with Article 50 of Law No. 796, persons assigned to category 1 are assigned a monthly additional pension for damage caused to health, in the manner and amounts established by the government.

"Since Article 50 of Law No. 796 does not directly establish the amount of monthly additional pension for damage caused to health, the persons assigned to category 1 in the Court have no reason to believe that the provisions of paragraph 26... have signs of inconsistency with the provisions of the first part of Article 8 of the Constitution." - added the KSU.

As a reminder, Article 54 of the Law "On the Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chernobyl Disaster" stipulates that, in all cases, the amount of disability pension that occurred as a result of mutilation or illness as a result of the Chernobyl disaster cannot be lower:

• for the I group of disabilities — 6000 hryvnias;
• for the II group of disabilities — 4800 hryvnias;
• for the III group of disabilities — 3700 hryvnias;
• for children with disabilities — 3700 hryvnias.

The amounts of the pension provided for in the third part of this article, starting from 2022 every year from March 1, are indexed in accordance with the procedure established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, taking into account the coefficient of increase determined in accordance with the second and third paragraphs of the second part of Article 42 of the Law of Ukraine "On mandatory state pension insurance".

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