Ipoh court issues interim stay over eviction of 6 Kanthan farmers

The Ipoh High Court has allowed an application for an interim stay over an eviction order against six Kanthan farmers.

The six farmers’ counsel, K Kunasekaran, said that judge Abdul Wahab Mohamed greenlighted the interim stay, which is to take effect until Jan 12 next year.

The lawyer said the court has also set the same day to hear the six farmers’ leave application for a judicial review to quash the eviction notices - dated Oct 13 - for them to vacate the farming plots at Kinta, Perak.

Two days ago, the issue exploded into the public limelight when PSM activist Chong Yee Shan was left with a bloodied face after being allegedly shoved by an officer from the Perak Land and Mines Office (PTG) near a farm in Kanthan, Tambun.

PSM chairperson Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, PSM committee member R Karthiges, Perak PSM Youth member P Kesavan, and a farmer identified as Ho Pon Tien, were also arrested for trying to stop the eviction of the farmers.

They have since been released on police bail.

Two days ago, the six farmers - aged between 49 and 56 - filed the legal challenge, which named the Kinta district and land office administrator, the Perak State Development Corporation, the state land and mines director, and the state government as respondents.

According to the cause papers, the six farmers contended that the land has been farmed by their parents and family members continuously since the 1940s during the colonial period until today.

They claimed that the respondents since 2012 have allowed the farmers to continue to cultivate the land, creating legitimate expectations that the applicants would be given replacement plots for cultivation.

“The respondents, in particular the second respondent (Perak State Development Corporation), with full knowledge have relied on the first respondent (Kinta district and land office administrator) to issue the (eviction) notices to the small farmers and violated the legitimate expectations and breached their duty to act fairly and equitably as a public body,” the six farmers contended.

The farmers are seeking relief through the judicial review, among them a declaration that they not be ousted from the land until they have been given replacement plots of 2 acres in size.

Alternatively, the farmers are seeking damages over the contravention of their legitimate expectations.

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