THE CONSTITUTIONAL Court has accepted a proposal by a group of opposition members of parliament to open further proceedings in a case contesting the constitutionality of some provisions of the law commonly known as the expropriation law, permitting one-time extraordinary measures in preparation of some of Slovakia’s highway projects, the SITA newswire wrote.
The law allows commencement of road construction on land without previously settled ownership rights. According to the law, construction works can begin on private land with unsettled ownership rights within the whole projected network of D1 to D4 highways as well as the R1 to R8 dual carriageways.
But the Constitutional Court has refused to suspend the effectiveness of the contested provisions of the law. It explained that it is not possible to do so only on the assumed potential unconstitutional and unlawful action by authorities. A potential possibility for authorities to act in a way that is at odds with the constitution and laws in regard to the expropriation process cannot lead to a temporary halt in the effectiveness of the contested regulations of the law in these one-time extraordinary measures, the court said.
The court said that in the event of interference in individual property rights in a manner contradicting the constitution, the affected owner has individual tools for protection of subjective rights: corrective measures, legal proceedings before a general court and other tools against unlawful steps in line with Chapter Five of the Civic Court Order.
