The Carmelite Order is facing a two-pronged legal battle over a proposed supermarket on the grounds of its Balluta priory, court documents show.
Developer John Cilia is suing the Order and demanding it honours a 50-year lease agreement signed in 2011 that allows commercial development on the priory’s garden.
However, in a second legal challenge, the Archbishop’s Curia has asked the courts to issue an injunction to stop the Carmelites and the developer from building the proposed supermarket, car park and offices.
In its defence, the Carmelite Order has submitted a sworn statement arguing that the 2011 agreement was null and void as it went against the law. When the private agreement was signed, the Order’s prior was Fr Anthony Cilia, the developer’s brother.
Lawyers have said that any private agreement that resembles an emphyteusis – a contract by which land is leased to a tenant either in perpetuity or for a long term –exceeding 17 years and allowing the tenant to develop or sublet the area must be subject to a public deed. This is the argument the Carmelite Order is now making to halt the development.
The Order had not taken any legal action against the developer
Carmelite Provincial Fr Alexander Vella told this newspaper the Province had noted concerns raised by Archbishop Charles Scicluna and the public opposing the development. He insisted every effort was being made to regularise the position.
Meanwhile, Mr Cilia’s lawyer, Anthony Farrugia, wrote to this newspaper saying the lease agreement signed by the former prior was drawn up only after his brother’s proposal “was approved by a vote taken by the Carmelite Balluta community”.
He also said the Order had not taken any legal action against the developer. Court documents show the nullity of the lease was brought up by the Carmelites in a sworn statement made in their defence.
Concerns were also raised by residents because the proposed car entrance to the supermarket is on one of the busiest roads in Sliema. The developer proposed to synchronise the exit of the cars from the supermarket through traffic lights immediately outside, sources told this newspaper. But rather than ease worries on traffic, the move was seen as a confirmation that the concerns were justified.
The site of the proposed development is within the urban conservation area of St Julian’s. The development would sit side by side with the building of the Carmelite priory that is scheduled as Grade 2 and would be in the immediate vicinity of the Carmelite church, scheduled as Grade 1 – the highest degree of protection given by the planning authority.
Timeline
October 13, 2011: Former Carmelite prior Anthony Cilia and Fr Leonard Mahoney sign a 50-year lease agreement giving part of the priory’s gardens to John Cilia (the prior’s brother).
August 11, 2014: John Cilia files supermarket development application.
May 29, 2015: Cilia seeks a court injunction against the Carmelite Order not to rescind the title.
July 7, 2015: Cilia sues the Carmelite Order.
July 30, 2015: The Curia requests a court injunction against the Carmelites and Cilia to stop the land being used contrary to the terms of the original concession – for use as a convent and church.
August 3, 2015: Carmelites submit a sworn statement that the lease agreement is null and void because it goes against the law.