Commentary on the judgement of the Supreme Administrative Court of 17 April 2024, III OSK 1136/22
Paweł Gacek
University of the Commission of National Education in Cracow , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6365-3146
Abstract
The commented judgement concerns an issue related to the decision referred to in Article 135fa, paragraph 1 of the Police Act. It is demonstrated that disciplinary proceedings under Article 135fa, paragraphs 1–2 of the Police Act are a special type of disciplinary proceedings which are not instituted by a ruling referred to in Article 134i, paragraph 5 of the Police Act. It is argued that the legislator’s intention was to create an extraordinary procedure in which disciplinary decisions could be issued without conducting disciplinary proceedings, but a special procedure for disciplinary proceedings reduced exclusively to issuing a decision. Therefore, it is justified to conclude, contrary to the position of the aforementioned Court, that a decision issued without instituting disciplinary proceedings, initiates and simultaneously terminates disciplinary proceedings in a given case. However, it is not a decision that is issued without conducting any disciplinary proceedings. The opposite assumption would make it possible to institute and conduct disciplinary proceedings and then issue a decision against the same police officer in relation to the same act for which a decision had already been issued pursuant to Article 135fa, section 1 of the Police Act. Since disciplinary proceedings concerning the same act and the same police officer would not be legally concluded by issuing a decision in the manner referred to in Article 135fa paragraph 1 of the Police Act, there would be no obstacle, referred to in Article 135 paragraph 1 item 3 of the Police Act, to instituting them again. There would also be no grounds for challenging a final decision referred to in Article 135fa, paragraph 1 of the Police Act, or for reopening disciplinary proceedings under the extraordinary procedure referred to in Article 135r and Article 135s of the Police Act. If the decision referred to in Article 135fa, paragraph 1 of the Police Act has been issued as part of disciplinary proceedings, it is also reasonable to assume that such a final decision materialises the premise contained in Article 110, paragraph 5, item 2 of the Police Act, which requires that annual bonus awarded to the police officer for a given calendar year be reduced.
Keywords:
Police, police officer, disciplinary proceedings, disciplinary decision, annual bonusReferences
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University of the Commission of National Education in Cracow
Paweł Gacek – doktor nauk prawnych; radca prawny; podinspektor Policji; pełniący służbę w Wydziale Spraw Osobowych, Biura Kadr i Organizacji Policji Komendy Głównej Policji; adiunkt w Katedrze Prawa Karnego, Kryminologii i Postępowania Karnego Instytutu Prawa, Ekonomii i Administracji Uniwersytetu Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie. Autor wielu publikacji naukowych z zakresu prawa i postępowania administracyjnego oraz prawa policyjnego.
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