Malé City Council has decided at an emergency meeting to take legal action over the Housing Ministry's decision to bring 14 key plots of land under the council's control under the government.
At the emergency meeting, the council passed a proposal by Hulhumalé South member Ahmed Galib to go to court seeking an interim order on the matter, and to take the case as far as the Supreme Court as a constitutional matter.
Deputy Mayor Meekail Mohamed Riyaz said the move is a deliberate attempt to dismantle the decentralised system of governance, and that the council must go to court to remind the government of the law.
Maafannu North member Hussain Furshan said there is no reason Malé's land should be handed over free of charge when the Finance Ministry has just bought a plot in Hulhumalé for MVR 94.5 million. He said that if any land in Malé is taken, the public must be compensated, and noted that the council was not consulted before the decision was announced.
Mayor Adam Azim said the plots being taken generate income for the council, and that losing them would make it harder to continue the services the council provides to the public.
According to the Housing Ministry's announcement, the plots to be taken by the state are Sultan Park and the National Museum, the Fish Market and its reclaimed area, the Local Market, the council staff accommodation building, the traders' association building, the Kaniva area, the Artificial Beach, the Fishermen's Maizaan, Thaisey Koshi, Coolie Fachana Number 2, the land used to store plants, Bondibath Park and Rasfannu.
Under an amendment to the Decentralisation Act brought in last September, the government has the power to separate land from councils' jurisdiction and bring it under government control to carry out state development projects.
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