The Civil Court has ruled that it has the jurisdiction to accept a lawsuit filed against the state by Coral Boulevard over the seizure of land allocated for building a residential complex in front of the Rasfannu beach in Male'.
The project was launched by former President Abdulla Yameen's government. But former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's government decided to take back the land given to the Singapore-based Coral Boulevard company. A new plot was to be provided instead from Hulhumale'.
The lawsuit filed over the failure to allocate land from Hulhumale' as decided by the government on February 25, 2019 sought USD 426.8 million as compensation. That is about MVR 6.5 billion.
The company sued the Housing and Planning Ministry in addition to the Finance Ministry and the Maldivian state.
After considering whether it has the jurisdiction to hear the case, the Civil Court decided that the Finance Ministry and the state could not be sued. But the Housing Ministry could be sued for breach of contract, the court ruled.
In its judgment, the Civil Court instructed the claimant to prepare and file the lawsuit within 14 days, after which the court would proceed with the case.
