The Civil Court will decide in the coming weeks whether or not to intervene in plans to relocate Monti stalls to the top of Merchant Street.
During a sitting held to consider Merchants' Street shop owners' requests for an injunction to stop the move, Mr Justice Joseph Zammit Mckeon said today that he would not exclude taking the full 30-day window to decide.
The Merchant Street Business Community Association filed an application for the injunction last week and today's court proceedings saw some two dozen business owners shuffle into the court room along with GRTU head Paul Abela.
Taking the witness stand, Economy Ministry consultant Alex Farrugia insisted no decision had yet been taken on where to relocate the stalls.
He said discussions were expected to stretch into the first quarter of 2016 by which point all stakeholders would have been consulted.
Mr Farrugia would not confirm whether the move would go ahead as it was "too early to say" and he would not disclose any other streets which could host the Monti instead.
Mr Farrugia said the government was using an "interlocutor" named Joe Zrinzo to hold consultations on the Monti move. Mr Zrinzo, however, had never met with any of the shop owners. It also turned out that Mr Zrinzo is a representative of the Monti hawkers and was acting on their behalf.
Lawyer Edward Gatt, who appeared on behalf of the shop owners together with lawyer Veronique Dalli, argued that Mr Zrinzo was not leading consultations between different parties but simply meeting with the government on the hawkers' behalf.
"This Mr Zrinzo is an ambassador for the Monti hawkers," he said.
Merchant Street Business Community Association president Tonio Camilleri also took the witness stand and said he had met with another Economy Ministry consultant, Jonathan Attard, who had "made it clear" that the move to the top of Merchants Street would go ahead.
Asked about this by judge Zammit Mckeon, the Ministry's legal team said their position was simply that no decision had been taken yet.
Mr Camilleri said monti stalls set up along the street could see major franchises leave Valletta and would also cause logistical problems with accessing the street.
"Speaking bluntly", Dr Gatt said he understood why the ministry would not reveal other potential locations for the open market, because "no one wants a Monti outside their business".
"Are we really looking at the possibility of leaving St John's towards St James and being faced with Monti underwear stalls?" he asked.
CONSULTATIONS SUSPENDED
Meanwhile the Ministry for Economic Affairs in a statement a few hours after the sitting, said that consultations on the Monti move was being suspended pending the decision of the court.
The ministry said it would proceed according to the court's decision.