The environmental activist group "Miveshi for the Environment," said that the request for a review was submitted due to concerns that the Court's decision involved significant errors and a disregard for legal principles and laws.
A request has been filed with the Supreme Court seeking a review of the High Court's order to halt the Kaafu atoll Gulhi Falhu land reclamation project.
The environmental activist group "Miveshi for the Environment," which originally brought the case, stated on social media platform X that the Supreme Court's decision contained fundamental flaws. The group said that the request for a review was submitted due to concerns that the Court's decision involved significant errors and a disregard for legal principles and laws.
"Although a decision of the Supreme Court is final, due to the fact that fundamental errors had been made historically in the court’s decisions in certain instances, a review procedure of such decisions had been introduced in the Maldives context. The reason for using that procedure to submit a request for review is due to having serious concerns about the court’s decision in this matter," the post read.
In the case filed during the administration of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the High Court held that if an interim injunction is not issued in the case, the reclamation could result in irreparable damages to the environment, the plaintiff, public and future generations.
At the time High Court issued an interim order and decided that the damages caused by proceeding with the reclamation would be far greater than the financial loss incurred from stopping the project. However, this ruling was appealed at the Supreme Court by the Attorney General's Office citing significant financial loss for the state.
Supreme Court in May ruled that the High Court's decision was in violation of its established policy on such matters, resulting in the quashing of the lower court's verdict.
Supreme Court also said that the state stands to face significant financial loss should the reclamation be stopped, given that the agreement made between the state and the company which has been awarded the project stipulates that a fee of 15,300 Euros per hour must be paid as idle fee if the project is stopped. As such, the government may face irrecoverable damages due to the stay order, said the Supreme Court.
The court also noted that environmental activist Humaida Abdul Ghafoor, who filed the complaint, failed to clarify whether the environmental damage caused by the reclamation would be permanent.
Although the High Court's decision was overturned, the Supreme Court had earlier issued a temporary order allowing the reclamation of Gulhifalhu. Authorized under the order, the reclamation of Gulhifalhu is now complete.
The 65 hectare reclamation project worth USD 2 billion was issued to Royal Boskalis of Netherlands on October 17, 2019 during former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration. However, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has since added another 85 hectares to the project as well as another 150 hectares in the second phase of the initiative.
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