DUNCANS, Trelawny. Jamaica’s Supreme Court has blocked, for now, the eviction of at least 40 people from the Jacob Taylor Beach lands at Duncans, granting an injunction on Tuesday that holds until the court hears their challenge on 6 October.
Justice Andrea Thomas made the order on an application by attorneys for four of the residents. It forms part of a wider claim for judicial review of a decision by the Natural Resources Conservation Authority last month to serve them with notices to quit.
The National Environment and Planning Agency, which acts for the authority, did not oppose the injunction. Its chief executive, Leonard Francis, said the order simply preserves the status quo.
The residents, a dozen of whom run shops on the beach once known as Derby Beach, say they learned of the notices on 17 August, when they found them posted on their doors. The notices gave one month to leave premises that some say their families have occupied for decades, citing public purposes and planned repairs and improvements.
Through their attorneys at Harrison Law, the residents contend that the authority acted improperly, that the reasons given were vague, and that no one consulted them before the notices went out.
Mr Francis insists the agency has no plan to remove anyone, and that the fisherfolk who use the beach were never served. He says the aim is to develop the area as a properly planned fishing and recreational beach, with proper sewerage and order, and with the people who are there remaining part of it.
LRTVS News Desk
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