Constitutional Court

KI61/18, Applicants: Azem Qorri and others, constitutional review of Decision AC-I-14-0123 of the Appellate Panel of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court on Privatization Agency of Kosovo Related Matters, of 30 November 2017

 KI61/18, Resolution on Inadmissibility, of xxx 2019, published on xx xx2019

Keywords: individual referral, Liquidation Authority, premature referral, exhaustion of legal remedies

In his Referral, the Applicant challenges Decision  of the Appellate Panel, which rejected as ungrounded the Applicants’ appeal against Decision C-IV-13-0420 of the Specialized Panel of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court on Privatization Agency of Kosovo Related Matters, of 25 March 2014 (hereinafter: the Specialized Panel).

The Applicants, after having filed a claim for compensation of the property expropriated  by the Socially Owned Enterprise “Feronikeli” with the Privatization Agency of Kosovo, namely the Liquidation Authority, also filed a statement of claim for the compensation  of the same expropriated property with the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court (hereafter: the SCSC).

The Specialized Panel rejected the statement of claim of the Applicants as inadmissible, establishing that after the initiation of the liquidation procedure, the Applicants may submit a claim only to the Liquidation Authority and not to the SCSC. This finding of the Specialized Panel was upheld by the Appellate Panel, which concluded that after the liquidation proceeding has started, the proceedings in the court are not allowed, namely they are allowed only exceptionally.

The Court, taking into account the fact that the Liquidation Authority has not rendered yet a decision in respect of the Applicant’s request and that the Applicants, the decisions of the Liquidation Authority may appeal to the SCSC, found that the Applicants did not meet the admissibility criteria for the exhaustion of legal remedies provided by the Constitution, the Law and the Rules of Procedure. The Court considered that it cannot assess the alleged constitutional violations without affording an opportunity to the Liquidation Authority to terminate the proceedings regarding the Applicants’ claim for compensation of property.