[kraken] [Trinidad] Squatters win court battle to keep their land, homes

From: doorgeefluik <doorgeefluik_at_xs4all.nl>
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:57:46 +0100

 Squatters win court battle to keep their land, homes
 By Anna Ramdass anna.ramdass_at_trinidadexpress.com

 http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Squatters_win_court_battle_to_keep_their_land__homes-114910784.html

 Story Updated: Jan 30, 2011 at 10:44 PM ECT

 A judgement delivered by the High Court last Friday has given Prime
 Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar another legal victory in her defence of
 hundreds of squatters whose homes were destroyed by the Land Settlement
 Agency (LSA).

 Justice Carol Gobin, in a 16-page judgement, agreed with
 Persad-Bissessar's argument that the LSA's move to destroy homes of
 squatters in 2008 was unlawful.

 The ruling will now set the precedent in determining cases against the
 LSA that affect squatters. As a result, squatters will now be able to
 make claims against the LSA for trespassing and demolition of their
 homes. The judgement also means that squatters now have a level of
 protection, as the LSA can no longer move in and evict anyone who is
 squatting on State lands.

 In 2008, Persad-Bissessar, while in Opposition and private legal
 practice, took up the plight of over 100 squatters who were living on
 lands formerly owned by Caroni 1975 Ltd in California, Central Trinidad.

 In July 2008, some of squatters' homes were destroyed while others were
 served eviction notices as the LSA asserted it had the authority, under
 the PNM-led administration, to do so by way of a Cabinet note.

 In her judgement, Justice Gobin made it clear that the LSA does not
 have any such right. Gobin also stated that it is the Commissioner of
 State Lands who has the responsibility of dealing with squatters and not
 the LSA.

 She added, however, that the judgement does not give claimants the
 right to occupy the lands, but "simply decides that the LSA, in actually
 evicting some of them and in threatening to evict the remaining
 claimants, acted unlawfully, in that it purported to exercise a power it
 did not have".

 Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said yesterday that Persad-Bissessar
 must be congratulated "for coming to the rescue of the hundreds of the
 dispossessed families when the government used brute force to evict
 them".

 "She acted in the finest traditions of the Bar by providing legal
 representation to a section of our society that needed the protection of
 the law the most, but could afford it the least. Her criticism of the
 then government's actions were clearly justified and she has been
 vindicated.

--------------------------------------------------------------
 2010 archief: krakenpost.nl/2010.tar.bz2
 Afmelden, e-mail: kraken-post-unsubscribe_at_dvxs.nl
 Opnieuw aanmelden: kraken-post-subscribe_at_dvxs.nl
 Online Archief: http://www.krakenpost.nl/archief
 [31 Jan 16:00u]:262 abonnees
--------------------------------------------------------------
 
Received on 31 Jan 2011 15:57 uur