The Supreme Court on Monday quashed a 2010 ruling by the Fukuoka High Court that faulted the government's decision to abolish additional benefits for elderly people on welfare and sent it back to the high court.
The high court's ruling was the only one among nine similar lawsuits that favored beneficiaries 70 and above who have been challenging benefit cuts taken by local authorities based on the government's decision to end the additional benefit payment system.
For example, 39 plaintiffs sought to nullify a decision by Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, to cut their benefits, claiming the state's alteration of the welfare system, on which the city based its decision, was unconstitutional and infringed on their right to live.
The top court's second petty bench, presided over by Justice Katsumi Chiba, demanded the Fukuoka court review the case. "On whether to abolish the extra benefits for the elderly, the state has the discretion from a technical standpoint to decide whether it is necessary and the ways to abolish it," the top court said.
Reversing a lower court ruling, the Fukuoka High Court said in its June 2010 ruling that the state decision was a detrimental alteration for beneficiaries that was made without a just cause, thus posing an abuse of power and a violation of the Public Assistance Law.