GACO issues update on lawsuit filed against Ministry of Agriculture to claim land in Qassim

Logo of Al Gassim Investment Holding Co.

Al Gassim Investment Holding Co. (GACO) announced that the administrative court of appeal in Qassim approved in form the appeal it had filed against the Qassim branch of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, as it abstained from submitting the company’s request to own the entire land space it revived.

The company explained in a bourse filing the ruling of the Administrative Court of Appeal in Qassim Province accepted the appeal in form and annulled the ruling of the First Circuit of the Administrative Court of Buraydah, filed by GACO against the branch of the ministry (the case being inadmissible).

In addition, it canceled the negative decision of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture in its refusal to refer to the company’s grievance for not owning the entire area of the land allocated to it for the abovementioned reasons. The judgment will be received on Oct. 6.

The related financial impact will be announced later, the statement noted.

In December 2020, GACO filed a lawsuit on Nov. 16 against a Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture branch in Qassim Province, before the Administrative Court in Buraydah. The company sought to rescind the ministry’s abstention for ownership of the full area of land that the company cultivated.

In June 2020, the company received a letter from the ministry stating that a royal order had been issued approving GACO’s ownership of 74.04 million square meters of land handed over to it in Sheri, Qassim, according to data available with Argaam.