A court today annulled land expropriation at Zabbar which took place in 1965 and ordered the government to return the site to its owners. 

The court also awarded the owners €40,000 by way of compensation for the violation of their fundamental human rights.

Mr Justice Raymond C Pace in the First Hall of the Civil Court delivered this judgment following a constitutional application filed by the owners Carmen Zammit, Miriam Galea, Joseph Cassar, Grace Borg, Emanuel Cassar and Annemarie Despott against the Commissioner of Lands and the Attorney General.

The owners told the court they owned a bar in Zabbar and that in 1965 the authorities had expropriated the site for a public purpose. The bar was demolished.

A government representative told the court that the land on which the bar was built, together with neighbouring property, had been expropriated for the purpose of constructing a civic centre and ancillary roads.

But due to change of plans in 1972 the government had decided not to build roads in that area and, instead, another bar was built by the government on the land in question. The new bar, known as "Kopside Cafe'", was leased by the government to third parties.

In 2010 the government had offered the owners €13,000 by way of compensation for the land. This compensation, said the court, had been offered 45 years after the expropriation had taken place.

Mr Justice Pace said that the state had the right to expropriate property for a public purpose but the land owners were entitled to compensation.

In this case, the expropriated property had been made into a bar which was leased to third parties for trade purposes. This could not be classified as a public purpose but was a commercial transaction.