Co-cathedral foundation joins lawsuit filed by Valletta gold shops

The foundation entrusted with administering St John’s Co-Cathedral has been admitted into a lawsuit in which a number of Valletta shop tenants are claiming their right to a fair hearing was breached by a tribunal conducting separate proceedings to evict them.

The admission came in a partial judgment delivered by the First Hall, Civil Court in its constitutional jurisdiction.

The lawsuit was filed by a group of jewellers and other tenants of shops within the footprint of St John’s Co-Cathedral, in Valletta. The lawsuit is an offshoot of separate proceedings before the Administrative Review Tribunal, where the tenants are contesting an eviction order issued by the Lands Authority.

The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation, which administers the cathedral under a church-state agreement signed in 2001, was not a party to the proceedings before the tribunal.

At the tribunal, the tenants’ lawyers are arguing that an eviction notice can only be issued by the owner. However, the long-contested question as to whether the co-cathedral is owned by the state or by the church has remained unanswered.

The tenants’ lawyers therefore requested the tribunal to suspend the proceedings until the...