The Motor Hearse Association yesterday asked the First Hall of the Civil Court to stop the Malta Transport Authority from issuing new permits for hearses or from processing new applications for the same.

The association said the service of the carriage of the dead had been offered for the past 50 years and had always been protected by the government.

In 2006, the government had made the association's members invest in new hearses on condition that no new licences for other hearses would be issued. This decision had then been confirmed by the Cabinet.

However, the association complained that the government had, without consulting it, decided to liberalise the sector. Such decision on the part of the government would cause the association and its members to suffer irremediable damage consisting in loss of work and of income.

The association argued that the issue of a warrant of prohibitory injunction was necessary to protect its rights.

The court provisionally upheld the request for a warrant of prohibitory injunction and appointed a hearing for July 22.

The Public Transport Authority (ADT) yesterday filed an application calling for the case instituted by the association representing hearse owners to be heard with urgency in view of public health concerns.

The ADT said in its submissions that the threat of industrial action by the hearse owners raised public safety concerns and created inconveniences to the relatives of the deceased. For this reason, it asked the court to decide urgently on the matter.