Facts
The complainant [X.] had built an economic building with a barn for his agricultural business in [B.] /Canton of Grisons in 1982, which was subsidized by the federal government and the Canton of Grisons with a total of CHF 173,300.--. In 1989, [X.] took over the farm from his father and operated an agricultural area of 17 ha. Due to health problems, [X.] gradually gave up his business and began to keep pension horses. The economic building had been largely empty since 1998 and was used for keeping pension horses and as a storage space for horse-drawn carriages.
The cantonal land improvement office pointed out to [X.] in 2000 that keeping pension horses in the subsidized economic building would be considered a misuse and would have to lead to a partial reimbursement of the subsidies. The Department of the Interior and Economy of the Canton of Grisons obliged [X.] with a decision of February 19, 2002, to reimburse CHF 75,096.-- in subsidies.
[X.] filed a complaint against this decision with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Grisons, which dismissed the complaint. [X.] then filed an administrative appeal and, if necessary, a constitutional appeal with the Federal Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the administrative appeal and the constitutional appeal. It found that the keeping of pension horses in the subsidized economic building constituted a misuse, as the building was no longer used for agricultural purposes. The court ruled that the reimbursement of the subsidies had to be calculated according to the…