The Constitutional Court Ruled that Amendment to the Article of the Administrative Procedure Law which Stipulates that the Monetary Limit in Effect at the time of the Final Decision shall be taken as the Basis for Determining Whether a Decision Can Be Subject to Appeal or Cassation Violates the Constitution

The Constitutional Court ruled that the provision in Article 1, paragraph 2 of the Additional Article of the Administrative Procedure Law, which stipulates that the monetary limit in effect at the time of the final decision by the first-instance or regional administrative court shall be taken as the basis for determining whether a decision can be subject to appeal or cassation, violates Article 13 of the Constitution on the restriction of fundamental rights and freedoms and Article 36 on the right to legal remedies.

The application by the Istanbul 12th Administrative Court, subject to the decision of the Constitutional Court (“Constitutional Court”) published in the Official Gazette dated 6 March 2025 and numbered 32833, it was claimed that paragraph 2 of Additional Article 1 of the Administrative Procedure Law (“İYUK”) dated  6January 1982 and numbered 2577, which was amended by the Law dated 28 July 2024 and numbered 7524 (“Amendment Law”), violates the Article 2 and Article 36 of the Constitution, and the cancellation of the relevant article was requested.

With the Amendment Law, paragraph 2 of Additional Article 1 of the İYUK has been amended to state that ‘the monetary limit at the date of the final decision of the court of first instance or regional administrative court shall be taken as basis in determining the decisions that may be appealed or appealed for cassation pursuant to Articles 45 and 46’.

Within the scope of the application made by the Istanbul 12th Administrative Court, it was stated that the plaintiffs could not know the revaluation rate at the date of the decision when filing or amending the lawsuit and therefore it was not possible to foresee the monetary limit, and it was argued that this situation violated the principles of certainty and legal predictability and the principle of fair trial and was contrary to Articles 2 and 36 of the Constitution.

In scope of the Constitutional Court decision it was stated that;

• Within the scope of the decision numbered E.2023/182, K.2024/203 (“Precedent Decision”) established by the Constitutional Court on 4 December 2024, the phrase in paragraph (2) of the additional article 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure numbered 6100, which stipulates that the legal remedy of appeal or cassation cannot be applied against the decision of the court of first instance or the regional court of appeal, if the subject matter of the lawsuit is below the monetary amounts valid on the date of the judgment in terms of value and amount, was cancelled,
• With the amended article subject to the application, it is specified that in administrative cases that are below the monetary value valid on the date of the final decision of the court of first instance or the regional administrative court, no appeal or cassation can be filed against the decisions rendered by these courts and the values of the case cannot be adjusted for the effects of inflation,
• This situation may cause a decision that can be appealed or cassation according to the monetary limits valid at the date of the application to the administration or the filing of the lawsuit to be cancelled according to the monetary limits at the date of the decision, if the proceedings take a long time,
• In this context, there is no reason that requires a deviation from the Precedent Decision in terms of the provision requested to be cancelled,

and in this context, it has been decided that it constitutes a violation of Article 13 and Article 36 of the Constitution and that it should be cancelled, and that although the applicant court has claimed a violation of Article 2 of the Constitution, a separate examination was not deemed necessary.

In conclusion, it was decided that on paragraph 2 of Additional Article 1 of the İYUK, the phrase “where the final decision is rendered by the court of first instance or the regional administrative court” shall be cancelled as it is contrary to the Constitution and the phrase “in determining the decisions that may be appealed or appealed pursuant to Articles 45 and 46” shall be cancelled pursuant to Article 43 of the Law numbered 6216 on the Establishment and Trial Procedures of the Constitutional Court.

The full text of the Constitutional Court’s decision with case number 2025/39 and decision number 2025/35 published in the Official Gazette dated 6 March 2025 and numbered 32833 can be accessed via this link. (Only available in Turkish)