On February 17, 2018, the Public Defender of Georgia appealed to the Director of the Social Service Agency with a recommendation and requested him to reimburse for the social assistance that had been confiscated from a citizen in favor of the budget and legalized by law.

In July 2014, E.B., a member of the family receiving social allowance, crossed the state border without notifying the Social Service Agency, after which he/she had been still receiving social allowance for 6 months. In February 2016, the Akhmeta Regional Department of the Social Service Agency requested the applicant to pay back the amount of money received for 6 months to the state budget on the ground that he/she had incorrectly received it. The applicant applied to the Public Defender's Office to study the lawfulness of the Agency's request and simultaneously started to pay back the money in order to avoid a fine; in particular, he/she started to pay 100 GEL per month in favor of the budget.

The Public Defender's Office found that pursuant to Article 261 of the Law of Georgia on Social Assistance, which pertains to legalization of excessively allocated social allowance, the allowance excessively allocated before 1 April 2015 shall not be paid back. In spite of this, the Akhmeta Regional Department of the Social Service Agency and the Director of the Social Service Agency considered that since the money was withdrawn from the bank account after 1 April 2015, their request was absolutely legitimate.

It is noteworthy that, in fact, the Agency had allocated the allowance from May 2014 to December of the same year. Accordingly, the Public Defender found that the Social Service Agency's request was not grounded and recommended the Ministry to pay the money back to the citizen.

The Social Service Agency implemented the Public Defender’s recommendation and made a decision to to pay the 500 GEL, incorrectly transferred by E.B. to the treasury account, back to him/her.

The Public Defender of Georgia welcomes the implementation of the recommendation by the Social Service Agency and expresses hope that it will serve as an example for other state agencies.