The Nationalist Party has welcomed a court decision blocking the Lands Authority from taking over part of a public garden in Gżira to transfer a petrol station to it.

In a statement, the party said the authority was not acting true to its purpose of serving the people. Instead, it had become a government tool to satisfy speculators.  

The authority was also taking decisions without logical explanation and with a lack of transparency.

Decisions such as this one which the Lands Authority had taken about the garden needed to be taken after proper consideration of their impact on the people. 

In its judgment, the court, presided by Mr Justice Wenzu Mintoff, found that matters of public administration needed transparency, reasonableness and observance of the principles of natural justice. The court said that as a minimum, the local council, which administered the garden and represented the residents, should have been consulted.