Seychelles Supreme Court Quashes Praslin Land Use Plan
The dubious Baie St. Anne Land Use Plan passed they the National Assembly Three (3) years ago, has been Quashed in full by the Chief Justice of Seychelles Supreme Court Honorable Justice Mathilda Twomey in a landmark case Talma Vs. Minister of Land Use Planning ( Christian Lionnet).
The case held all Praslin landowners waiting with baited breath for Two years since the Baie St. Anne Land Use Plan reduced vast properties to nothing but " Reserves" on private lands without Fair and Just Compensation by the Government of Seychelles numerous opponents to the government like the Gill Family, Verlaque Family, Talma Family , Lesperance family suffered.
In material part, the Supreme Court in so far as all land use plans are concerned including Mahe , Praslin, La Digue, ruled across the Board-
1. All decisions relating to property rights under Article 26 of the Constitution of Seychelles at the administrative level must be: 1. Legal, 2. Reasonable, 3. Fair, 4. Rational, 5. Proportionate in decision, implementation, execution.
This means the MLUH cannot legally restrict use of property held by private persons unless these conditions have been met in full. Clearly this has not been the case with the Praslin Land Use Plan, going over the details is not imperative at this time.
Suffice to say, this Judgment now opens the door to a tumultuous amount of potential suits if the Minister of Lands does not respect the judgment of the Supreme Court of Seychelles. Property owners are now free to claim damages over the restrictions endured for Three (3) years.
2. The Supreme Court highlighted that Subsidiary legislation that restrict constitutionally protected Property Rights, must be drafted with strict controls to not overstep on the property rights protected by the Constitution of Seychelles.
3. While Notice in the gazette of the Praslin land Use Plan was published, the court found that no plan was ever made available to the Public for inspection.
The Judge said( she) : "has the distinct impression that the creation of the Plan was not in Good Faith and in the National Interest but rather by stealth and other motives."
"I am left with no doubt after reviewing the administrative files with the knowledge that not all the files were submitted to the Court ( by MLUH) after being so ordered. The court cases linked to this review (reveal) the Minister has indeed been unreasonable in his decisions."
4. Judge held that density restrictions were so arbitrary and prejudicial she said: " without a shadow of a doubt, the decision on density is not only arbitrary,but also preposterous" .
To properly make her point, Justice Twomey cites Justice Diplock's ruling on a similar case saying:
" So outrageous in its defiance of logic, or accepted moral standards, that no sensible person who had applied his mind, to the question could have arrived at this conclusion." ( Emphasis Provided)
Hence Justice Twomey concludes: the Ministers perusal of density requirements, the Land Use Plan was neither legal, Reasonable, Fair,Rational, or Proportionate.
5. Chief Justice orders the Praslin Land Use Plan quashed and orders the MLUH to return back to the 1997 Land Use Policies in place, to approve development plans on Praslin, and all of Seychelles.
50 Meter Club Formed
Congratulations to the formation of the 50 Meter Club, baptized with 8 Bottles of Laurent Perrier on the day of this solemn judgment. Justice Twomey has removed the shackles off our feet and hands. Now, it is up to Minister of Lands to get back on track, make amends with the Public to serve them, not financially imprison them for motives the Chief Justice openly suspects is the driving force behind such ridiculous policies.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!i
May God Bless All Freedom loving Seychellois !
16 comments:
It seems to me,Mathilda is walking the talk,and has decided to apply the law,and ready to bring oders in this country.If that is her objectove,then she will have the people support and be respected.I am sure,Michel is worr, and adking if his choosing of Malditha was the right option .
Mathilda is a victory for Michel's legacy for taking a bold democratic move to appoint - 1 a qualified person as CJ, 2. a Seyxhelloise.
We must give credit to James Michel.
Naturally Michel never dreamed he would be facing a Petition for a 3 rd round.
But being the protector of Democracy he insist he is, we can rest assure, James Michel will accept a 3 round if called to do so by the Courts.
It is the only option for a man who has " written so much" on Democracy.
The judgments of the courts will be a minor matter in the history of Seychelles, though a big deal this year.
Michel came in well, he needs to organize a honorable exit, with dignity, and keep the nation intact and united more then ever.
The Opposition must give him the chance to do the right thing at the right time, but keep one eye North and one eye South.
But time waits for no one. Michel is not an exception. He is running very short on time. He is counting days by 100 at a time now.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
This land use plan caused so much pain to the Talma family. Thank you. God is great. Bless you all.
Msye Sesel you are the worse leader in Africa.
The land use plan cannot be Christian Lionnet fault.
In Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe takes land from foreigners and gives it to his people.
In Seychelles Msye Misel takes land from his people makes them suffer gives it to foreigners.
Why do you make your pele suffer Msye sel?
Answer me this question.
Why do you make your people suffer Msye Sel?
I guess msye,sesel has i.feriority complexe......he thinks when he rape laws,and sell out seychelles,the praises he rrceived by these foreigners compenccate his inferiority.When u has bankrupt the country and feel hungry,everything is put on auctions.
I have no doubt zhat justice Mathilda will bring a fresh start to the court.The,fresh start has begun.
It is too early to comment ...
Kudos and big congratulations to Chief Justice Towmey in her thinking that is reasonable and fair and represents the frustration of the people. Being in real estate, I had a very hard time to explain to land owners how land can just be categorised without proper and fair thinking and my own piece of land being affected. Furthermore, planning makes decisions so slowly and unfairly for other developments being requested.
I hope that there is a mechanism in future to stop having decisions unilaterally by the government by people who do not consult other respected authorities, the public and appropriate parties before making a decision, and then the people have to spend years to try to correct it. As a real estate agent, I have never had a single meeting with the board and few other agent are even interested in the interest of the industry for the people. Who is interested in what we have to say?
I even informed owners on my home page to eb aware of these so called land use plans as it affects the value of their property.
It is long overdue and I hope that we can move forward in the right direction. There is a lot more to be done.
Jean-Paul Maurel
Premium Realty
Licensed Real Estate Agents in Seychelles
Two Ministers that need to be axed are Christian Lionnet and Edith Alexander. The former is simply corrupt while the latter is ineffective, has no idea what she is doing and hurting the country with her stupid and ridiculous GOP quotas as well as sticking to the dark age employment laws that need to be rewritten.
If the Govt. changes one day, the likes of Dolor Ernesta and Lionnet will have to escape quickly as the deals they have done will end them in jail even before Mukesh goes to trial.
They can seek asylum overseas.
If they need addresses for apartments they can contact the 40,000 exiles.
The govt, not having much to do decided one day to survey people's lands. Well, they did their job and asked people to report if the survey was wrong. Old people, not understanding nor aware of the situation carried on with their lives. Years later they find out they were missing land and neighbours had started building on the land. The deed or original plan had been changed in the office. Possibly through corruption.The case went to court but to no avail, it dragged on and on for years. I ask myself,if I bought an acre of land and then in my absence someone decides to come measure again and give me less without my knowledge, is that right? In this country as it stands, I as a Seychellois do not feel that I have recourse and justice on my side because those civil servants believe that they are the law and we are there to serve them rather than the other way round. People like Lionnet , Adam family etc.believe that Seychelles are their private playground and we are their minions .I do hope they get their comeuppance I say that the law that says that if you have not gone to court after 10 years after the govt have surveyed your land, then you have no recourse, should be scrapped. Many people in govt agree that the surveyors were wrong but no one would stand up and be counted. Too afraid of the big bad wolf! If something is wrong, it is wrong whether it is for 10 years or a million years.. My family is not the only ones that suffer through this injustice there are others.
Lionet just drafted a unilateral Statutory measures and then via his mouthpiece at that time,namely BISCONET told Praslois zhat“the plan has,already been drafed“ and asked the Public,land and property owners to“Go and inspect the plan“....of course Lionet and Biscornet set up dictates on how the public,land and property owners coould come to inspect the drafts,,...not when the want but when Lionet and Biscornet allowed them ,namely,“When they are called upon to so“dictated Biscornet.
It showedvthe hubris that guided these two crooks..
Bis cornet takes goose. He is corrupted.
James Michel here is some information for you.
Thanks Christopher for forming. The 50 Meter Club. We had a great time. Maybe the best time we have had in years.
A A.
The pleasure was mine.
Keep well all of you, stay strong, never give up!
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
Lion et shows he is totally incompetent as a minister when he faces the National Assembly, and explains why he cannot as the government subdivide land. Yet he is in charge of land subdivision.
This guy has pig fat stuck between his ears.
He is a disgrace and embarrassment to the PL and he make s a mockery of James Michel Administration.
He runs MLUH like a chicken farm.
His staff are all talking behind his back, they are insulting him. Every day.he has been the worse thing for le pep.
He build 200o houses at perseverance and half the people voted against le pep.
Lionnet has been giving people too much balls to the point they turn on the ruling party.
He must be paid by the opposition to destroy lepep.
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