A ruling by the Supreme Court confirms the resolution of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC), which annulled the order of the Government of the Canary Islands, where the modification of rates of the public water supply service, requested by the Water Consortium of Lanzarote, was approved. This has been assured by the Popular Party of the island, through a statement. The order of the Canarian Executive is from December 16, 2008.
The PP has pointed out that this ruling represents "a new setback" for the Water Consortium of Lanzarote, made up of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, and the seven town councils of the island. The Supreme Court has ratified the nullity of the water rates that the public company Inalsa has been charging users, judicially intervened, according to the PP.
The scope of this new judicial ruling issued by the High Court on July 1, which ratifies the ruling of October 1, 2010 of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, focuses on the fact that these Inalsa rates, now annulled, were "agreed by the Cabildo to try to clean up Inalsa, the public water company when it was one step away from its judicial intervention", according to this political formation.
At the end of 2008, the then government pact in the Cabildo of Lanzarote, presided over by Manuela Armas (PSOE), with the support of the PIL, agreed to a significant increase in water rates, including the obligation to pay a fixed fee, whether or not there was water consumption, for holding a meter. "That service fee was established to clean up Inalsa and where the minimum was 6 euros per bill, for individuals or private individuals, and 12 euros for company meters, in addition to a significant increase for consumption sections," the PP recalled.
In addition, the nullity of the prices for the purification of waste water that Inalsa invoiced through its receipts to subscribers is also included. Now, the Supreme Court ratifies the ruling of the TSJC of October 2010, annulling the rates that came into force on January 1, 2009, accepting a contentious-administrative appeal from the tourist entrepreneurs of Lanzarote, and where in practice companies and individuals have the right to have these amounts charged returned by an Order of the Ministry of Employment, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, at the request of the Water Consortium of Lanzarote, through the General Directorate of Consumption.
This ruling of the Supreme Court was issued on July 1. On the 11th of that same month, the president of the Water Consortium of Lanzarote, and president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Pedro San Ginés, had convened an extraordinary assembly of the Insular Water Consortium to discuss an agreement with the Board of Creditors of Inalsa, judicially intervened and studied by the Mercantile Court.
May force the "return of a fortune to users"
According to the PP, San Ginés omitted in that assembly the existence of this "harsh ruling that could force the return of a fortune to Inalsa users in these years back". However, San Ginés, did send an agreement of payment plan with the creditors of Inalsa for about 40 million euros from the entity Canal de Isabel II after the privatization of the water service in Lanzarote for the next decades.
"From now on, it is very likely that the Water Consortium of Lanzarote will have to allocate that money to the reimbursement of the rates charged fraudulently (without legal protection) to the citizens and companies of Lanzarote, and will not be able to meet the clauses in the Inalsa Creditors Agreement, with the transfer and transfer of credits," the PP said in a statement.
RELATED NEWS
[See the Supreme Court ruling on Inalsa rates->http://www.lavozdelanzarote.com/IMG/pdf/Sentencia_del_Tribunal_Supremo_donde_confirma_anulacion_tarifas_del_Agua_de_Lanzarote.pdf]
[See the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands->http://www.lavozdelanzarote.com/IMG/pdf/Sentencia_del_TSJC_confirmada_ahora_por_el_Supremo_y_por_la_que_se_anula_tarifas_del_agua_en_Lanzarote.pdf]
