A group of 16 farmers squatting on 100 acres of prime real estate land at Chaguaramas have lost their 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.
In a 21-page decision delivered in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday, Justice Frank Seepersad said that the group, calling themselves the Guave Road Farmers Association, failed to convince the court that it had a strong enough case over the ownership of the land to justify the granting of the injunction.
“The deficiencies as outlined do not augur well for the claimants and creates the unfortunate suspicion in the mind of the court that some of the instant claimants may have instituted their respective claims so as to facilitate and justify a land grab,” Seepersad said.
While the CDA gave an undertaking to stop work on the site while Seepersad was considering the case, his decision yesterday gives it the green light for the organisation to immediately pick up where it left off.
Stating that the farmers had to prove they were in uninterrupted possession of the land for a lengthy period to dispossess the CDA’s title to it, Seepersad noted that records from both sides showed that there were different batches of farmers cultivating the land at various periods.
Noting that 60 farmers were using the land in 1996, Seepersad said: “No evidence has been advanced so as to provide an explanation as to how and why the number of occupiers as at 1996 decreased so dramatically.”
Seepersad also criticised the group for only bringing the lawsuit earlier this year when the CDA began clearing the land off Tucker Valley Road, which it plans to use to widen the road and build carpark facilities.
“The court, is of the view that the claimants delay in bringing this action has been significant and resulted in a circumstance where the defendant’s execution of costly and substantial work upon portions of the subject parcels of lands was unchallenged for a significant period,” Seepersad said.
Seepersad also explained that the court was reluctant to stop Government projects which used State land to help diversify the nation’s economy.
“The subject parcels of land are pristine valuable lands and if the development of same is executed in a fair, honest, competitive and transparent manner then the eventual outcome may resound to the collective benefit of all citizens,” Seepersad said.
The T&T Guardian attempted to interview the group of farmers after their defeat, however, they refused to speak to reporters who they accused of siding with the CDA in previous reports on the case.
The farmers were represented by Colvin Blaize and Farai Masaisai. Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and Michael Quamina appeared for the CDA.
A date of hearing for the farmers’ substantive claim is yet to be set and will likely be done when the law term reopens in September. (DA)