Tarouba squatters lose in court again

A STATEMENT made at a People’s National Movement meeting by Noel Garcia, Chief Executive Officer of the National Housing Authority (NHA), days before Local Government elections, became the subject of a second High Court action on Tuesday by squatters of Tarouba Village, near San Fernando. But for the second occasion in the past three weeks, the squatters lost in another Judicial Review application against NHA, regarding their status on the lands. Madame Justice Mau-reen Rajnauth-Lee on Tuesday refused to grant leave on the ground that Garcia’s statements to the squatters amounted to a promise to them that they will not be evicted.

Earlier this year, the NHA issued notices to 87 squatters to quit occupation and to break down their dwelling structures within seven days. Failing to obey, the notices stated, would result in the NHA breaking down the structures. The squatters stopped the eviction by filing an application for Judicial Review. But on July 31, Justice Nolan Bereaux dismissed four grounds on the Judicial Review application. The judge held the view that there was an apparent grab for lands at Tarouba and the State was entitled to remove trespassers. Two weeks ago, the squatters filed another application. They contended that on July 7, two weeks before the election, Garcia, together with Ian Atherly, held a meeting with the squatters at the Tarouba Recreation Ground. Atherly was PNM’s campaign manager for San Fernando West MP Diane Seukeran and is now Mayor of San Fernando.
Present also at that meeting was the PNM’s Local Government candidate for Tarouba North, Daniel Dookie.

Filed by Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC, instructed by attorney Garnet Mungalsingh, a transcript of Garcia’s speech to the residents was tendered along with the Judicial Review application. It quoted in part, Garcia’s statement: “It is the intention of the Government not to displace persons. We will not unilaterally move or demolish people’s homes.”  The residents stated that Garcia’s statement amounted to a promise or an undertaking. A letter by Mungal-singh on August 7 to the NHA requested a written undertaking from the authority, based on Garcia’s statement, that the squatters’ homes would not be demolished. On August 14, NHA’s attorneys Gopeesingh, Martineau and Edwards, replied stating that there was no ground on which judicial review proceedings can be filed against the NHA.

That same day, the second Judicial Review application was filed in which the squatters sought to have the High Court review the decision of the NHA’s refusal to give the written undertaking. On Tuesday, the matter came up in the San Fernando High Court before Justice Rajnauth-Lee. The judge heard legal submissions from Russell Martineau SC, instructed by attorney Deborah Peake, representing the NHA, as well as Maharaj. Justice Rajnauth-Lee held that despite the threat of the NHA’s notice of eviction, she was convinced that the residents, based on Garcia’s statements, had no reason to fear eviction without dialogue from the NHA. The judge refused to grant leave. An appeal was filed against the decision on Tuesday.