The Supreme Court explained when the consideration of a case cannot be suspended due to another judicial proceeding

If during the consideration of a dispute the court concludes that a regulatory legal act does not comply with the Constitution or the law of Ukraine, it is obliged to apply the act of higher legal force regardless of whether such a regulatory act is the subject of appeal in another court case. The mere fact of considering another case concerning the legality of the regulatory legal act does not indicate an objective impossibility to consider the dispute and is not an independent ground for suspending the proceedings according to paragraph 3 of part 1 of article 236 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine.

This conclusion was made by the Administrative Cassation Court as part of the Supreme Court.

Case summary

In case 160/6306/25, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the Main Directorate of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Dnipropetrovsk region, requesting to recognize as unlawful the actions regarding the application from January 1, 2025, of restrictions on the size of his pension provided by article 46 of the Law of Ukraine "On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025" and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution dated January 3, 2025, No. 1 "On determining the procedure for paying pensions to certain categories of persons in 2025 during martial law," as well as to oblige the defendant to pay the pension without applying restrictions and reducing coefficients. The court of first instance satisfied the claim. During the appeal hearing, the defendant filed a motion to suspend the proceedings until the court decision in the case challenging the provisions of the mentioned resolution becomes final. The appellate court granted the motion and suspended the proceedings.

Supreme Court conclusions

The Administrative Cassation Court of the Supreme Court satisfied the cassation appeal, canceled the appellate court's ruling, and sent the case back for continuation of consideration.

The Supreme Court noted that according to paragraph 3 of part 1 of article 236 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine, suspension of proceedings is allowed only if there is an objective impossibility to consider the case before the resolution of another case. At the same time, the court is not entitled to suspend proceedings if the collected evidence allows establishing and assessing all circumstances necessary to resolve the dispute. Moreover, according to parts 1–3 of article 7 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine, the court is obliged to apply an act of higher legal force in case of non-compliance of a subordinate regulatory legal act with the Constitution or the law of Ukraine.

In view of this, the panel of judges concluded that the consideration of the case is objectively possible without its suspension, since if the provisions of the Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 1 are found to be inconsistent with the norms of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, the court is entitled not to apply this resolution even if it remains in force. Therefore, there are no legal grounds to suspend the proceedings until the court decision in another case challenging the mentioned regulatory legal act becomes final.

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