The Decision of the Constitutional Court does not allow filling the Landfill with Waste
In the closed session on October 28th, the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic decided to place the two complaints by the company Ekologicka skladka, a.s. (that owns the landfill), against the procedure and the decision of the Supreme Court into one proceeding.
According to the complaints, the Supreme Court’s steps had violated the rights of the plaintiff, when it cancelled the construction permit for the waste processing landfill. Apart from merging the two complaints, the Constitutional Court also decided to postpone the enforcement of the Supreme Court’s provisional remedy until the Constitutional Court decides on the complaints. Furthermore, Jan Man, Sr., who is the owner of Ekologicka skladka, was told that he could operate the landfill for now, until the Constitutional Court’s final decision on the complaints. Mr. Man will not comment on the Constitutional Court's verdict.
The civic activists and local government, however, do not agree with Mr. Man. The resolution of the Supreme Court, which cancelled the decision of the Slovak Environment Inspection to build the landfill, is still in effect, said the mayor of Pezinok, Oliver Solga. In his opinion, the Constitutional Court's decision does not change anything about the current state of affairs in the matter. The reason behind the mayor’s comment is connected with the need for the town of Pezinok to receive an official decision from a relevant authority. Once the decision is received the town will have a lawyer examine the decision. Afterwards, the town of Pezinok will make a comment on it, but not before this process happens. Thus this process has not occurred, so nothing has change in regards to this matter.
“We have to distinguish between the validity and the practical component of the verdict,” explains Zuzana Caputova, the lawyer of the Pezinok citizens’ initiative. She illustrates that the decision of the Constitutional Court only deals with one component of the Supreme Court’s verdict which is the practical aspect. For instance, “the Constitutional Court has just pended the impacts of the Supreme Court’s verdict in regards to its practical component. Its decision has nothing to do with the validity of the verdict that is connected with providing all the permissions that are necessary for building the landfill; they have been legally cancelled, and require new proceedings in order to start. Furthermore, this means that the owner of the landfill cannot start to dump waste there because all the building permissions have been legally cancelled. Therefore, there is no legal foundation to operate the landfill. Another possible interpretation of the Constitutional Court’s decision would be that it is docile, and in complete contradiction with legal certainty”, says Zuzana Caputova.
Deputy Prime Minister, Dusan Caplovic (SMER Party), who temporary acted as the Minister of the Environment, until recently, said that he “would cancel the landfill in Pezinok”. Today, he did not comment on the situation.
The landfill in Pezinok is located 280 meters from a residential area, and 400 meters from the town center. Pezinok locals fear the health risks, and odor from the landfill. Moreover, some experts warn that the area is dangerous due to landslides. Furthermore, the permit for the landfill’s construction was requested by Mr. Man. His son was in charge of the office that issued the landfill’s construction permit. Also it is important to add that the man in charge of the office was also the owner of the landfill. In addition, before the beginning of the Supreme Court’s preliminary injunction, construction of the landfill was completed, and dozens of truckloads of waste were brought in.
On May 28th, the Supreme Court cancelled the permit for the controversial landfill, and ordered the case to be processed again by the relevant authorities. The Pezinok landfill case made it into court after activists from Pezinok filed a lawsuit with the Bratislava Regional Court. In addition, the move was followed by the Environmental Inspection office issuing both construction and operating permits for the landfill in Pezinok. The Environmental Inspection office which issued the permits for this area was directly influenced by the Regional Construction Office in Bratislava. When the Regional Court turned down the complaint by the citizens and the town of Pezinok, they filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. As a result, of the appeal the Supreme Court issued a preliminary injunction, and temporarily stopped the landfill’s operation until it reached its decision on the matter. In this case, the specific issue was the legitimacy of the permit for the landfill.
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