The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has issued a ruling against a resolution of the General Directorate of Coasts, which sanctioned a restaurant in 2007 in El Golfo for occupying public maritime-terrestrial land with 12 tables, 48 chairs, 8 umbrellas and 4 lampposts, according to the complaint filed at the time.
The owners of the restaurant, Casa Plácido, filed an administrative appeal against that sanction, but it was dismissed in 2009, so they decided to go to court. Now, the TSJC has ruled that Coasts should not have rejected that appeal, and that the complaint was not sufficiently substantiated.
In their defense, the owners of the restaurant argued that the ministerial order that approved the demarcation of El Golfo in 2006 was suspended when that sanctioning file was processed, and that therefore it was not appropriate. However, on this point, the Court only partially agrees with them. It argues that the suspension of the demarcation does not prevent Coasts from recovering land that belongs to it by law, but it does have to prove its ownership. That is, since the demarcation was not in force, Coasts had to have proven that the land in question was part of the maritime-terrestrial domain, because it met the characteristics indicated in the Coasts Law.
"The instructor should have carried out the necessary test to prove the ownership of the disputed land, since the complaint was insufficient. Instead, he neither ruled on the proposed test (by the defense), nor confirmed or ruled on the suspension of the demarcation, nor carried out a test to complete the complaint, which implies a violation of the presumption of innocence," the ruling states.
"It is possible to defeat Coasts"
"The arrogance of the Administration and its contempt for individual rights has turned against the Administration itself," says the lawyer for those affected, José Ortega. In addition, he recalls that this ruling adds to the one that was issued before the summer in relation to the demolition of the terrace of the El Bogavante restaurant, in the same town. "With them, it is demonstrated that it is possible to defeat Coasts and that therefore, the tide of demolitions on the beaches of the Canary Islands is far from inevitable."
Ortega, who in addition to being a lawyer is the founder of the National Platform of Those Affected by the Coasts Law, recalls that the sanctioning resolution, like that of other restaurants in the same area, "was processed in a lightning manner as soon as the demarcation was approved, against several restaurants in the area, which were reproached for the occupation of public domain and the easement of transit by the tables and chairs of the terraces."
However, Ortega defends that "these terraces with these tables and chairs are the soul of the restaurants of El Golfo, where users from all over come to have dinner in the mid-afternoon while contemplating the sunset. Without these facilities, the economic life of the town would be reduced to zero."