n terms of Article 22(4) of the Ombudsman Act, the Ombudsman, Mr. Anthony C. Mifsud, and the Commissioner for Environment and Planning, Perit Alan Saliba, have sent to the House of Representatives the Final Opinion concerning a complaint alleging misreporting by a Planning Authority Case Officer on a development application in Xewkija.

Case Summary

The Office of the Ombudsman received a complaint alleging misreporting or poor reporting by case officers leading to poor decisions by the Planning Commission. The Ombudsman referred the case to the Commissioner of Environment and Planning for investigation.

Following the investigation of the allegations made by the complainant, the Commissioner concluded that in the absence of planning reasons justifying the overturning by the Planning Commission of the recommendation by the Executive Chairperson in line with Article 10 of the second schedule of the Development Planning Act, there is a strong case for the application of Article 80 of the same Act due to an error on the face of the record by the Planning Commission.  Therefore, the Commissioner recommended that the relative documents approved in the original permit should be replaced with those in the minor amendment permit.

Outcome

The Planning Authority, through its Internal Audit Office, informed the Commissioner that it was not in agreement with his recommendations. Therefore, the Case was referred to the Prime Minister in September 2022. Since no action has been taken, the Ombudsman and the Commissioner sent the report to the attention of the House of Representatives.

Documents:

02.06.2022 – Final Opinion 

27.06.2022 – Reaction from the Planning Authority

16.09.2022 – Letter to the Prime Minister

20.10.2022 – Letter to the Speaker of the House