Front Zghazagh ghall-Ambjent (FZA) has filed a Judicial Protest before the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Planning Authority, after the Authority sanctioned Joseph Portelli’s penthouses in Sannat which the Court of Appeal had previously declared illegal.
FZA said that in March 2024, the Court of Appeal, presided over by the Chief Justice, had revoked two development permits (PA/2035/21 and PA/5048/20), ruling that those permits were unlawful.
Despite this unequivocal judgement, in August 2024 the PA approved a new application (PA/5625/24) to sanction the very same penthouses that the Court had annulled.
The protest denounces what it describes as “the Planning Authority’s flagrant disregard for the rule of law and contempt for the authority of the Courts.”
FZA’s judicial protest maintained that the Planning Authority’s actions are “unlawful, arbitrary, and in direct breach of the rule of law.”
The organisation recalled the judgement in Kamra tal-Periti et vs Planning Authority et, in which Mr Justice Falzon Scerri “strongly condemned the Authority’s conduct, particularly its disregard for the law and proper procedure.”
Photo: Joseph Portelli’s Sannat Penthouses. Photo Credit – The Shift News