Football Association of Maldives (FAM) has been ordered to pay MVR 170,000 in pending rent for a restaurant building they leased.

The case pertains to a suit the Bright Brothers Pvt. Ltd. filed against FAM on July 18, 2020, for failing to pay rent as per the agreement signed between FAM and Bright Brothers for leasing out the ground floor restaurant and the first floor of the building built on M. Olvina to FAM for a period of five years.

In the lawsuit, The Bright Brothers claimed that they had not received MVR 150,000 in the cheque issued by FAM to pay rent for April 15, 2022 to May 31, 2022.

Bright Brothers in their suit said that FAM returned they keys on June 14, 2022, without paying MVR 72,585/35 on the electricity bill of the building, MVR 46,666/66 as rent for the building and MVR 901/91 on the water bill.

Therefore, the Bright Brothers requested the court to recover a total of MVR 370,153/92 along with MVR 100,000 as compensation for the direct loss and indirect damage caused by fam.

In response to the charge sheet, FAM accepted that some of the money in the charge sheet was due and sought an opportunity to pay the amount within a year. FAM refused to pay the amount of MVR 46,666/66 mentioned as rent and MVR 100,000 sought as damages.

Judge Zulaikha Sheeza, while pronouncing the verdict, said that as per the Civil Procedure Code, in cases where a defendant has agreed to receive money, the verdict in the case should be pronounced only after the deduction of the amount paid.

During the hearing on January 7, 2024, the judge said the Bright brothers had claimed to have received MVR 100,000 from the money sought by the FAM.

The judge observed that the FAM had to pay the amount it had refused to pay, and that FAM had not terminated the lease agreement in accordance with the terms of the agreement, and that the fact that FAM had handed over the keys of the building to the plaintiff Bright Brothers could have ended the deal.

The judge observed that due to violation of the lease agreement on behalf of FAM, only the rent amount was MVR 46,666/66, and that the MVR 100,000 sought as compensation could not be recovered as the plaintiff had not produced any evidence to prove that the amount had been damaged.

In her ruling, the judge ordered FAM to pay a total of MVR 1,23,487/26 for electricity and water services of the building leased to FAM and MVR 46,666/66 as rent dues to Bright Brothers. The amount is to be paid to the Civil Court within seven days from today and the entire debt to be paid to the Civil Court before 2:00 pm on the 18th of this month.