Farmers give up land claims

Legal sources told Newsday that attorneys representing farmers Rameshwar Marajh and Jeason Khemraj Kanick Junior, who farm different portions of this 73 acre plot of land, filed an injunction on April 25 to restrain the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) from entering their land and bulldozing their crops. The farmers’ attorneys then filed another application in which they applied for legal title to the State lands which they currently occupy.

Legal sources said subsequent inquiries with the Commissioner of State Lands and the District Revenue Office revealed that while the farmers had physically occupied the land for several years, there were receipts which showed that these farmers and their predecessors had been paying rent on these lands during the time of their occupation.

Newsday understands that these receipts show that Marajh and Kanick Junior and their predecessors have been paying rent for the lands they currently occupy from 2003 to 2010.

Further documents were also discovered showing that these farmers also applied to the Commissioner of State Lands to be regularised and for leases to be granted to them. Sources said attorneys for the HDC subsequently sought Attorney General Anand Ramlogan’s advice on this matter. Contacted yesterday, Ramlogan confirmed that his advice was sought on this matter. The AG said he advised the HDC , through its attorneys, that the farmers had no legal basis for any legal claim to land against the State or the HDC.

Ramlogan said he recommended that his advice be shared with the attorneys for the farmers. Sources said this was done and on April 28, the farmers’ attorneys filed a revised application in the High Court in Port-of-Spain in which they indicated that their clients were no longer seeking to obtain titles to the State lands they currently occupy.