Civil Court: Strada property damage cannot be compensated

The Civil Court has ruled that the City Council cannot compensate for the damage caused to the property in the warehouse of Strada Pvt Ltd, which operated the Newport Restaurant in Raalhugandu area located in the southeast Male'.

Strada filed the case in civil court last year, alleging that the city council had demolished the warehouse and taken the property under custody without prior notice.

The company sought to declare that it was an act beyond the powers of the city council and to make them liable for the goods in the warehouse by owing the company USD 741,820 (MVR 11,438,864) in damages.

In response to the lawsuit, the city council told the court that Strada had no right to keep the property mentioned in the lawsuit and that the company had no right to use the property from March 7, 2019.

Compensation can not be provided to a party which does not hold the right to use the land. Court decisions have also ruled that the company has no right to use the land and the state or the city council has the legal authority to deal with the buildings on the land as it wishes.

According to the city council, the warehouse had to removed as rain showers and strong winds had caused severe damages to the warehouse resulting in parts of the roof to be blown on to the roads of Male' posing a threat to pedestrians and motorists.

The judgment on the case said the warehouse was demolished and the property was taken into the custody of the city council outside its authority. However, Strada could not prove the extent of damages caused to the court. According to the judgment, the loss assessment report submitted to explain the damages included invoices and inventory list given by Strada. Among the five invoices, there was only one in the name of company. The other four invoices were under Strada Construction and Zahid Rameez, one of the company's shareholders.

There are also cases pending in the courts against the council over the land on which Newport operated and other lands attached to it.