Two property development companies have complained in court about the way the Commissioner of Lands “acted in bad faith” after he sold them plots only to issue a government scheme two months later leaving them to pay substantially more.

The application was filed by Falsons Construction Limited and Falgri Limited.

The companies said they had purchased five plots of land in Triq il-Qalb ta’ Ġesu in Buġibba in November 2005 but they had subsequently realised that part of the land had been claimed by the Joint Office.

Civil proceedings were initiated but during the case the parties came to an agreement in 2012 whereby the companies bought the land in dispute for €446,000.

Two months after this contract, a scheme was published whereby owners of land in the same road having the same problem could purchase the land at a reduced price.

Had the companies benefited from this scheme, they would have paid a total of €54,144 for the same land.

In the civil application, the companies said the Commissioner of Lands acted in bad faith when details of such a scheme were not divulged before, and as a result they had suffered huge damages.

The companies asked the court to declare the commissioner had fooled them into paying substantially more for the properties, and asked the court to award damages.