An injunction that temporarily blocked illegal works at a Kirkop fireworks factory was lifted after operators bound themselves not to manufacture or store fireworks there until all necessary permits were in hand.
The San Ġużepp fireworks factory on Triq Ħal Far was party destroyed in an explosion that killed a man.
The prohibitory injunction had been provisionally upheld at the request of a neighbouring farmer who claimed that the “illegal” and “shoddy” works undertaken to rebuild the partly-demolished factory were seriously prejudicing his family’s life and property.
Eugenio Bugeja filed a civil action requesting the First Hall, Civil Court to stop the works which he claimed did not have the necessary Planning Authority permits.
The farmer claimed that the factory operators were not taking necessary measures to ensure the safety of his family and neighbouring property.
Lawyers representing the factory told the court, presided over by Mr Justice Ian Spiteri Bailey, that while permits were not in hand, construction works had started after the November incident.
However, they clarified that the works that were being undertaken before the court injunction was issued were only intended to rebuild the damaged structures.
The fireworks complex consisted of various rooms, two of which had been totally devastated in the blast while other structures, adjacent to Bugeja’s property, had also suffered damage.
Faced with that explanation by the defendant’s lawyers, the court sought further clarification about the possible danger posed if fireworks were to be stored or manufactured in the structures being rebuilt without the necessary permits.
A declaration was formally minuted by the defendant’s lawyers who said that “any structural works at the St Joseph Fireworks Factory Kirkop were being done to remove the debris resulting from the November 22 explosion and to temporarily rebuild the two rooms that were destroyed and others that may have been damaged in that explosion.”
However, the lawyers “explicitly declared that the defendants were not to manufacture and/or store any fireworks in those structures that were temporarily rebuilt and/or repaired unless all necessary permits were obtained from the relative authorities” to carry out the building works.
That declaration was made without prejudice to fireworks activity in other parts of the complex which had not been damaged in the explosion.
The applicant’s lawyer pointed out that the defendants’ declaration made in open court and formally minuted in the case records, would not affect his client’s claims against the fireworks factory, which were the subject of separate civil proceedings.
Faced with those statements, the court “was making it clear that if the declaration [made by the defendant’s lawyers] were to be breached, the defendants would be deemed to have acted in contempt of court”, Mr Justice Spiteri Bailey decreed.
The injunction was thus revoked within the parameters of the court’s decree.
Lawyer Carlos Bugeja assisted the applicant. Lawyers Philip Magri and Thea Lynn Cesare assisted the defendants.