Man files Constitutional proceedings after 20-year wait for planning permission

The owner of a Bahar ic-Caghaq villa, who was made to wait twenty years for planning permission to convert it into a venue for receptions and public social functions, has filed Constitutional proceedings against the Planning Authority and the State this morning, claiming a breach of his Constitutional rights.

In an application filed before the First Hall of the Civil Court in it s Constitutional jurisdiction, Joseph Difesa, who owns Villa Difesa in Bahar ic-Caghaq, states that he had first applied to convert the villa and surrounding land into an event venue in 1992, but this application had initially been rejected by the then Planning Area Permit Board of the Police (PAPB).

Difesa subsequently filed an amended application that year, this time to the Planning Authority, and the subsequent proceedings and appeals before tribunals and other constituted bodies dealing with development, had dragged on for twenty years, until the Court of Appeal finally dismissed the Authority's appeal in 2013.

The plaintiff is claiming this process has breached his right to justice within a reasonable time, arguing that the excessive delays in processing his application and issuing the permit has caused him great financial loss, as well as a loss of business.

He is also arguing that the excessive length of time taken to grant him the permit constituted disproportionate interference in his right to use and enjoyment of his personal property.

Difesa complains that in spite of the permit having been issued, he remains unable to operate.

The application requests the court to declare that his rights have been breached by the absence of an adequate regulatory policy in this area, to order the breaches of his rights be put right and to liquidate damages accordingly.

Professor Ian Refalo signed the court application together with lawyers David Camilleri and Joseph Gatt.