A family has filed a writ in the Constitutional Court in connection with the requisition of a building under an MLP government which was turned into a party village club.
The family said that the Santa Venera building was requisitioned by the Secretary for Housing (now Director of Social Accommodation). It spent a year untended, but was then handed over to the MLP to use as a party club – under an MLP government.
The complainants said that such requisitions, according to Article 3 of Chapter 125, could only be done if “it is in the public interest to do so to provide people with housing”.
The complainants said that they had been receiving the ridiculous compensation sum of only Lm164 per year in return. They said that the decision to requisition the building was a complete abuse of power and was ultra vires. They claimed their fundamental human rights had been breached as a result of the requisition of the building. The complainants requested the court to declare such requisition to be null and void, or to order any other form of compensation that it may deem fit.