Archbishop Charles Scicluna has obtained a court injunction against the Carmelite Order to stop it from giving up priory grounds in Balluta for commercial development.

The court injunction was filed in July when news broke that a planning application had been filed for the construction of a supermarket in the garden of the priory.

Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo upheld the injunction, ruling that the Church was an interested party.

The case involves a 50-year lease agreement the Carmelite Order entered into with developer John Cilia in 2011 for the development of the gardens into a supermarket.

The Archbishop and the current leadership of the Carmelite Order want the lease agreement rescinded since it contravenes the original conditions imposed by the family that donated the land to the Church back in 1890.

The land had been transferred to the Church on condition it would be used solely as a convent.

Mr Cilia is suing the Order and demanding it honours the lease agreement that allows commercial development on the priory’s garden. The developer wants to build a supermarket, car park and offices.

When the private agreement was signed in 2011, the Order’s prior was Fr Anthony Cilia, the developer’s brother.