Photo/Illutration A landfill project under way off the Henoko coast of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sept. 10 (Eiji Hori)

NAHA--A court here dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Okinawa prefectural government seeking a halt to construction of a U.S. military base, ruling that the case is not subject to legal action.

The ruling by the Fukuoka High Court’s Naha branch on Oct. 23 drew immediate outrage from the prefecture.

“The decision is unacceptable,” said Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki, who has called for the new base to be relocated outside of the prefecture.

His government is set to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

The lawsuit concerned approval for reclamation work off the Henoko coast of Nago for construction of a U.S. military facility that will take over the functions of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, also in the prefecture.

An earlier Okinawa governor had given his approval to the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau to start the landfill project.

But his successor retracted that approval.

However, the land minister in April this year invalidated the retraction, paving the way for the central government to resume reclamation work.

The lawsuit described the land minister’s decision as illegal.

The land minister’s decision stemmed from a request for an “administrative grievance hearing” by the Defense Ministry.

The prefectural government argued that the Defense Ministry “illegally abused” the administrative grievance hearing system, noting that the setup is intended to provide redress for citizens for infringements on the rights.

The prefecture argued that the central government promoted its own interests through “involvement” in a system whose purpose is to help the public. This “involvement,” the plaintiffs argued, is subject to litigation.

The Defense Ministry argued that its request for an administrative grievance hearing did not constitute “involvement.”

The high court sided with the Defense Ministry.

“A central government organization is in a position similar to that of citizens as both cannot go ahead without approval from prefectural authorities,” Presiding Judge Masamichi Okubo said, referring to the landfill project.

The court also rejected the prefecture’s argument that the decision by the land minister was not “neutral,” given that the ministry is part of the central government, which is pushing for the base relocation project.

“It cannot be said that the land minister abandoned the position to make an independent judgment,” the ruling said.

(This article was written by Kazuyuki Ito and Shinichi Fujiwara.)