Information regarding the regulatory resolution of the Constitutional Court
(№ 38 of 26 December 2023)
The Constitutional Court has considered a citizen's appeal on the constitutionality of subparagraph 14) of paragraph 3 of Article 16 of the Law on Civil Service (hereinafter - the Law).
The subject of the appeal had previously been brought to administrative responsibility and was dismissed for committing a misdemeanour that discredited the title of internal affairs officer.
In his opinion, the indefinite (lifetime) prohibition of admission of a citizen to the civil service upon dismissal on the above-mentioned grounds is identical in consequences to subparagraph 6) of paragraph 3 of Article 16 of this Law, does not correspond to the legal positions set out in the normative decision of the Constitutional Court № 4 of 6 March 2023.
The Constitutional Court has pointed out that the constitutional supervisory body had previously ruled that subparagraph 6) of paragraph 3 of Article 16 of the Law was unconstitutional insofar as it established an indefinite ban on the employment of citizens dismissed for having committed disciplinary offences discrediting the civil service, due to the lack of proportionality of legal restrictions arising from measures of disciplinary, administrative and criminal liability for offences against the interests of the civil service and public administration. Subparagraph 14) of paragraph 3 of Article 16 of the Law also establishes a similar indefinite prohibition of admission to the civil service of citizens dismissed for negative reasons.
The Constitutional Court considered that such restrictions must be mutually agreed and fulfil the requirements of paragraph 1 of Article 39 of the Constitution. The verified norm of the Law in the part of establishing an indefinite ban on admission to the civil service of persons without taking into account the nature of job duties violates the equal right of citizens to access to civil service and in general does not meet the principles of fairness, proportionality and the criteria of mutual consistency of substantively related norms of different sectoral affiliation.
The Constitutional Court recognised the subparagraph 14) of paragraph 3 of Article 16 of the Law as unconstitutional, as regards the indefinite prohibition of admission to the civil service of persons dismissed from the law enforcement service for committing a misdemeanour discrediting the law enforcement agency, due to the lack of proportionality of this legal restriction and recommended to the Government to submit a draft law to the Mazhilis of Parliament no later than six months to bring the legislation on civil service into line.