The owner of a cafe embroiled in a stoush with ANU and told to leave campus has vowed to open shop on Monday after the university backed off from legal action.
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ANU has told The Gods Cafe proprietor Jaye Min to clear out by July 3 but he will open his doors after the dispute went unresolved at the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Both the popular coffee stop and ANU prepared for legal battle when the university marked the business for demolition as part of its multi-million dollar Union Court redevelopment and Mr Min refused to leave.
But Magistrate Glenn Theakston ordered ANU to pay Mr Min's legal costs after it withdrew an application for the court to confirm the university validly terminated The Gods Cafe's lease, and to issue a warrant for its eviction if it didn't go.
Mr Min says the university didn't terminate his lease properly and has no right to kick him out.
"I'm not going to be pushed around just because the ANU is a giant institution and I'm a small cafe that happens to be in their way," he said.
"If the ANU thought they were 100 per cent right, then why didn't they let the court make a decision?
"I was ready for a fair determination from the court and then they withdrew the court case."
ANU said it negotiated in good faith with all campus food providers asked to move to a new pop-up centre during the Union Court redevelopment.
Some pop-up businesses begin trading next week and another campus business has taken up the lease for the cafe offered to The Gods, it said.
A university spokesman said its end-of-licence arrangements for businesses would comply with present licences, and that ANU raised the proposed Union Court redevelopment as far back as December 2014.
Accountants are estimating how much Mr Min stands to lose if he closed.
Lawyer David Robens, appearing for Mr Min on Thursday, asked Magistrate Theakston to proceed with ANU's application for a decision on the termination's validity, but was rebuffed.
"We see it as preferable to a situation where it's bulldozers versus protesters," Mr Robens said.
He also withdrew Mr Min's application for the court to consider whether the university properly terminated the lease, or to order compensation, after the business owner's previous solicitors did not file the action in time.
Mr Min said The Gods Cafe will offer a free coffee to its supporters on Monday and he invited ANU vice chancellor Brian Schmidt to talk about his lease.
ANU told Mr Min to clear out by Monday despite signing a lease for his current site until 2018 with the option to extend to 2023, but his lawyers have argued its demands were invalid as he was not given the legally required six months' notice ahead of the termination of his lease.
The $220 million Union Court redevelopment will include new teaching and student buildings, a purpose-built events and theatre building, student accommodation, a swimming pool, gym, outdoor spaces and amphitheatre, bars, event pavilions, cafes, services, shops and underground parking.
With Emily Baker
