For the second time in less than two weeks a group of 16 farmers squatting on 100 acres of prime real estate land at Chaguaramas have lost its bid for an injunction stopping the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) from seizing the land for use in its ongoing development plans for the north western peninsula.
During a short hearing in the Court of Appeal on Monday morning, appellate judges Allan Mendonca, Paula Mae-Weekes and Rajendra Narine dismissed an appeal from the group, calling itself the Guave Road Farmers Association. The group was challenging the decision of High Court judge Frank Seepersad to refuse to grant an injunction on July 31 after he concluded it failed to convince the court that it had a strong enough case over the ownership of the land.
While the CDA gave an undertaking to stop work on the site while the issue was being considered by Seepersad and the Appeal Court, the group’s consecutive loss gives the CDA the green light to pick up immediately where it left off. However, the group still has a lifeline as Seepersad’s decision on the merits on its case was merely a preliminary finding which will be reconsidered when the substantive case comes up for hearing before him later this year.
The farmers filed the lawsuit earlier this year after the CDA attempted to reclaim the land from them and began clearing areas at Tucker Valley Road to be used to widen the road and build a car park. They are contending they obtained a right to the land as they have been occupying it for the past 30 years without any interference from the State.
The CDA has disputed their claim as it says that although the land was being used by farmers for the past three decades, those listed in the lawsuit could not prove they were in occupation from the entire time required for adversely possessing the land from the State. The farmers were represented by Colvin Blaize and Farai Masaisai. Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and Michael Quamina appeared for the CDA.
As part of its ruling the court ordered that the farmers pay the CDA’s legal cost for defending the initial injunction application and the subsequent appeal. A date of hearing for the farmers’ substantive claim is yet to be set and will likely be done when the law term reopens next month.