Neighbour sues neighbour

Tiwary Drive, Woodland, is the subject of a lawsuit - MARVIN HAMILTON
Tiwary Drive, Woodland, is the subject of a lawsuit - MARVIN HAMILTON

TWO neighbours are battling each other in a land dispute being played out in the High Courts. One is accusing the other of narrowing a public road by a few feet.

The road is Tiwary Drive in Woodland, which is 36.2 meters wide, but in a lawsuit, Harripersad Maharaj, 87, is claiming a concrete fence erected by one of his neighbours, was done so too much onto the road. Maharaj is seeking an injunction to compel the neighbour and her son, to demolish the fence which he contends, trespassed on the road reserve. Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh, who completed hearing the case yesterday in the San Fernando High Court, will on November 4, decide whether the fence should be demolished.

In his lawsuit, Maharaj said the road once accommodated trucks and trailers in a two-lane system. But, in 2004, his neighbour constructed a fence which encroached the road reserve, thus narrowing the free passageway for vehicles.

The result was that heavy vehicles could no longer traverse this road. The Penal/Debe Regional Corporation had to construct a box-drain alongside the concrete fence and this further narrowed the road, Maharaj said.

Yesterday, attorneys Jeevan Rampersad instructed by attorney Stephen Boodram, led evidence from Maharaj and his two witnesses.

They were cross-examined by the neighbours’ attorney, Andre Rajkumar.

The mother and son, in their defence, contend that when they bought the land, it was waterlogged and covered with a “dasheen patch”.

They had to back-fill the area to raise the level of the land. A drain was dug in their property, paralled to the road, in order to drain the water.

Comments

"Neighbour sues neighbour"

More in this section