A farmer who had government-leased land lying on the area where the SmartCity project will be developed will have to evict the farm after a judge yesterday turned down his request for the court to issue a warrant of prohibitory injunction against his eviction.

Madam Justice Abigail Lofaro, presiding over the Civil Court, ruled that the legal elements required for the court to issue a warrant of prohibitory injunction had not been satisfied so the court had to turn down the application.

Raymond Scerri and his wife Rita filed an application against the Lands Department calling on the court to issue a warrant of prohibitory injunction to stop his eviction from tenement 51741 in the limits of Zabbar.

The couple claimed that they could not be evicted from the farm because the property in question was not needed for public use. Moreover, they claimed, the Lands Department was, by law, required to provide them with an alternative property and compensation if it had to evict them.

In its reply to this application and these claims, the Lands Department said that the land in question was required for the SmartCity project, which was a project of national importance.

In court, the Scerris presented the court with a plan of the area issued by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in 2006 which showed that their farm did not fall within the remit of the project. But the Lands Department countered this with a more recent plan – that approved by parliament in March this year – which clearly showed that the farm in question fell within the boundaries of the project.

Madam Justice Lofaro evaluated the evidence presented in court and ruled that the legal requirements for a warrant of prohibitory injunction had not been satisfied according to law and therefore ruled that the Scerris were to evict the property.

Professor Ian Refalo appeared for the Lands Department while Dr Roberto Montalto and Dr Edward Zammit Lewis appeared for the couple.