On 21 February, 2020, Tbilisi City Court Administrative Cases Panel, with the Judge Leila Gogishvili, will review the case of Nino Ts., who is a winner of competition “International Masters Degree Programs 2016-2017”. The author of the lawsuit is LEPL International Education Centre, who claims, that a graduate from the Japan State University has violated the terms of the State grant and therefore, makes demand of the grant – 53,379,36 GEL back. For her part, there is the counter-lawsuit of Nino Ts. presented to the court, requesting the cancellation of the LEPL International Education Centre 9 January, 2019 decision, putting an obligation to the Centre to make a new decision to postpone the fulfillment of the employment obligation in Georgia and to start the deadline of the performance in the specified period of time.
By the case files it is stated, that Nino Ts. in the outline of “International Masters Degree Programs 2016-2017” has received the grant to study in Japan, in the Japan International University, to reimburse the tuition fees and costs of living in a foreign country during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 academic years for the program of the public administration and policy analysis, which was announced as a priority within the programs. According to the grant agreement, the Grantee is obliged to return to Georgia within one month after completing the Masters degree abroad, stay in the country for 3 years and at that time, work in the relevant field/institution in Georgia. Based on the Administrative Agency explanation, the Grantee didn’t return back to the country, violated the agreement and therefore, is required to refund the financial responsibility.
In reality, the LEPL International Education Centre Director’s 26 April, 2016 N10-16 order, as well as, 28 July, 2016; 25 September, 2017 agreement of “the Grant” unequivocally regulates the following – the Grantee has the right to address the competition commission, after finishing the studying in the University, for the purpose of accumulating the work experience in the relevant area of the educational program provided by this agreement, in order to grant the right to stay in a foreign country. The grantee is obliged to submit a substantiated application and the official document of the employment. Granting the right to stay in a foreign country, by the competition commission, will be recognized as the postpone of above mentioned obligations and the calculation of the term of commitment will be commenced upon the expiration of the period of employment.
The “Young Barristers” explains that on 16 October, 2018, Nino Ts. by the application addressed to the Centre and requested to stay in the foreign country for 1 year, for employment purposes, till the end of autumn 2019. On 9 November, 2018, based on the discretionary power, the Centre refused to satisfy the demand. Based on the commission’s opinion, the documents submitted by Nino Ts. didn't indicate the concrete position, as well as, the relevance of the duties and the responsibilities to the funded master's program, which is an essential prerequisite for granting the right to stay abroad in order to accumulate the work experience. On December 18, 2018, the application was submitted repeatedly to the Center, with the full documentation and it was requested to start the discussion from the beginning. On the letter, dating 26 December, towards Nino Ts., it is stated, that the application was received in order to review it and the same time the party was required to provide an objective explanation as to why the proper documentation wasn't submitted at the first stage. On January 3, 2019, the Centre was again provided by the applicant with the specified opinions on the description of the employment and its compliance, as well as, the objective circumstances, but, on January 9, Nino Ts. received a letter from the Center stating, that: a. The center wasn't informed in the determined period of time, nor in the additional 10 days; moreover, there was no official document submitted, which would confirm the objective circumstances and b. The statement submitted by Nino Ts. couldn't confirm the existence of the mentioned objective circumstances, which were indicated in the statement dated 18/12/2018. Therefore, accordingly, the grantee was required to make a full refund.
According to the "Young Barristers", International Education Center LEPL is noticed in the illegal and unreasonable actions against its applicants and, therefore, the case of Nino Ts. isn't an exceptional. Based on the circumstances, where a. The documentary material, which was required by the program and the contract was present and available; b. The rights and responsibilities relevant to the program and education the applicant received, was present and c. The justification of the work experience accumulation was presented, the Centre had no rights to leave Nino Ts.'s application, dating December 18, 2018, without the proper research and administrative proceedings, which aimed to give her opportunity to again review the case of staying abroad for one more year. This, in the terms of conducting legal strategic litigation, is very important.
To note out: The International Education Center LEPL filed a lawsuit against Nino Ts. on September 16, 2019, and the counter-lawsuit by Nino Ts. has been applied against the International Education Center on January 9, 2020. Both the lawsuit and the counter-lawsuit were admissible. The interests of Nino Ts. are represented by Archil Kaikatsishvili, the head of the "Young Barristers" and lawyer Nika Menognishvili.
