Source to FesNews: Fez Administrative Court Orders Fez-Meknes Education Academy to Pay Nearly 4 Million MAD Over Unlawful Land Seizure

FEZ (FesNews Media) — An informed source has disclosed to FesNews Media that the Administrative Court of First Instance in Fez has handed down a landmark judgment highlighting the heavy financial toll of unlawful administrative land seizures (voie de fait). The court ordered the Fez-Meknes Regional Academy for Education and Training (AREF) to pay nearly 4 million MAD (400 million centimes) in total compensation to a private landowner following the construction of a public school on private property without prior expropriation proceedings.

The source explained to FesNews Media that the ruling followed a lawsuit brought against the Regional Education Academy, the Ministry of National Education, the Head of Government, and the Judicial Agent of the Kingdom seeking full redress for the occupation of private land without constitutional prior compensation.

Relying on court-appointed real estate expertise that confirmed the construction of educational facilities outside statutory expropriation procedures, the court ordered full compensation alongside the formal transfer of land title upon payment, reinforcing repeated warnings by the Court of Accounts against irregular administrative land seizures.