The High Court in Suva has ordered the removal of squatters from a piece of land in Tacirua East that is owned by Ridgeview Estate Pte Ltd.
Director of the company, Anthony Eugene Ah Koy had filed an affidavit in court, stating the squatters or trespassers at the said premises on Khalsa Rd have no rights to continue to stay there.
The company further informed the court that personal service on the squatters was impossible as their identities, details, house numbers and occupation were unknown.
Some of the squatters told the court that while they do not deny the ownership of the land by Ridgeview Estate Pte Ltd since 2017, they state that their occupation of the land preceded the grant of the said leases with the approval of representatives of the landowning mataqali, and further they had not been informed, when the subject land was given to Ridgeview Estate Pte Ltd.
Justice Savenaca Banuve has ruled in favour of Ridgeview Estate Pte Ltd, ordering the squatters to move out.
“An order that the Sheriff of the Court and/or his officers clear the said premises and remove the Defendants by themselves, their servants and/or agents and/or tenants in their capacity as squatters or squatter landlords or tenants and their families together with their dwelling houses, cultivated crops, all electricity and water posts, mains, pipes, meters, taps, switches and connections illegally connected to the illegal squatter housing, dwellings through trespass” stated Justice Banuve in his December 9 ruling.
He also ordered the Sheriff of the Court that police assistance be sought to supervise the squatters to safely disconnect, remove and dismantle all electricity and water posts, mains pipes, meters, taps, switches and connections illegally connected to the illegal squatter housing dwellings through trespass.
