The Decision of the RA Administrative Court on the Provision of Compensation as a Result of the Failure to Adopt the Administrative Act within Prescribed Deadlines

On April 6 of 2021, the RA Administrative Court adopted a decision to satisfy the appeal of L. Militonyan filed against the Republic of Armenia Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and obliged the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to provide L. Militonyan a document enabling to exercise her right to receive compensation in the amount of 1.367.000 AMD on the ground of the failure of the administrative body to adopt the administrative act within the deadline prescribed by the law.

Nina Hakobyan, the lawyer of the Protection of Rights without Borders NGO was representing the interests of L. Militonyan at the court.

It should be mentioned, that L. Militonyan had a serious injury on the head, as a result of which she had serious health problems impacting also her life and life activities. During 2003-2011, the child was subjected to medical examinations, based on which she received “disabled child” status, each time with two years of deadline.

On July 13 of 2013, in the outcomes of the new medical-social examination, L.M. was not recognized as a disabled child, in regard to which a judicial appeal had been presented. By the administrative case number ՎԴ/9578/05/13 dated May 22 of 2017 it was confirmed, that the administration carried out by the administrative body and the act adopted in this regard were illegal and by recognizing Lilit Militonyan as a disabled child, an illegal intervention was made towards her rights. An appeal was filed against the adopted decision and the decision of the Court remained unchanged. 

As a result, L. Milityonyan was deprived from social support and had not received disability benefit for about 5 years.

On July 19 of 2019, an application was filed by the representative of L. Militonyan to the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs with the request to compensate the damage caused in the outcomes of the illegal administration as a social benefit fee for the child having “disabled” status.

However, an act had not been adopted within the deadline prescribed by the Ministry, therefore the representative of L.M. applied to the Administrative Court with the request to oblige the respondent RA Ministry of  Labor and Social Affairs to provide a document enabling to exercise the right to receive compensation in the amount of 1.367.000 AMD on the ground of the failure of the administrative body to adopt the administrative act within the deadline prescribed by the law.

The Court stated, that in the outcomes of adopting the admirative acts by the Medical and Social Expertise Agency under the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Lilit Militonyan was deprived from her disability benefits and such circumstances restate the availability of the evidence of the damage caused to Lilit Militonyan.

According to the Court, under the conditions of adopting an illegal administrative act, when the latter was recognized annul, the respondent was obliged to compensate the property damage, since the RA Law “On The Fundamentals of Administration and Administrative Procedure” does not define a precondition of opportunity for the administrative body to compensate the caused damage, rather the Law stipulated an obligation to compensate the damage caused to the property as a result of administration.