Civil Court has ordered Male' City Council to hand over the industrial zone land located in south-west part of Male' city to the state by 30 July.

The case was filed in the court after the City Council refused to comply with the Housing Ministry's direction to vacate the industrial zone area and hand it over to the government.

In its petition filed in the Civil Court, the state had stated that industrial zone lands belonged to the Ministry of National Planning Housing and Infrastructure under the Decentralization act and that the Male' City Council did not own the lands and as such had no jurisdiction to make any transactions regarding these lands. The Ministry has sought a direction to stop all ongoing activities and hand over the land to the state.

However, the Male' City Council has not responded to the issue.

Therefore, after examining the case, Civil Court ruled that the land belonged to the Planning Ministry and held that the Male' City Council did not own the land and had no jurisdiction to make any transactions regarding the lands.

"We direct the Male' City Council to immediately stop all the activities permitted by the Male' City Council on these lands and hand them over to the State by 30th of this month," the order said.