HIGH Court Judge Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall has issued orders which compel the Town Clerk of the City of Georgetown to instruct the City Constabulary to take action to prevent vending in front of popular Regent Street, Georgetown business, Shamdas Kirpalani.

The orders are consequent to the proprietors of the establishment initiating judicial- review proceedings which sought to compel the town clerk to direct the City Constabulary to comply with the city’s by-laws of the Municipal and District Councils Act, so as to prevent persons vending in front of the store.

The applicants, Kanayalal Kirpalani and Meera Kirpalani, have been the owners of the establishment since 2000. In their Fixed Date Application, they contended that for several years there has been a “proliferation” of vendors which have caused them to write to the authorities on several occasions about the encumbrance of the pavement in front of their store.

The encumbrance of the pavement has caused the Kirpalanis great inconvenience, they claimed, as vendors would often trespass on their property to hang items on the grill work, and block the proprietors and their customers from parking or walking in front the store.

Further, they claimed that the vendors engage in obscene behaviour, involving in the sale of illegal substances and congestion in front of the store due to the vending also attracts pick-pocketing.

The applicants had initiated legal action against the then town clerk in 2010, who had consented to monitor the pavement in front of the store and try to, as far as possible, ensure that there is no encumbrance of the pavement; however, this was to no avail.

Senior Counsel K.A. Juman-Yassin, the applicant’s attorney-at-law, also wrote to the town clerk’s office on multiple occasions in 2015 and in 2020 and 2021, seeking that a court order from 2010 be complied with; however, the town clerk failed on each occasion to ensure compliance.

In the recent matter before Justice Morris-Ramlall, Juman-Yassin, S.C. contended that unless restrained and commanded by the court, the Kirpalanis will continue to be inconvenienced and suffer financially, as potential customers avoid the store because of the vendors.

Further, he highlighted that the town clerk has completely disregarded their statutory responsibility and has been illegally collecting fees from the pavement vendors for their unlawful occupation of the pavement.

The orders which he sought are enshrined in the Municipal and District Councils Act, he stated, while explaining that there is no other remedy available to the Kirpalanis.

In her Affidavit of Defence, Town Clerk Candace Nelson denied that the Mayor and City Councillors (M&CC) of Georgetown have not tried as far as possible to ensure that there is no encumbrance of the pavement in front of the store.

She also denied that the M&CC are collecting fees for occupation of the pavement and stated that she has no knowledge of a loss of customers for Shamdas Kirpalani and asked that the applicants provide proof of financial loss or loss of customers.

Nelson noted that the Office of the Town Clerk has taken practical measures on a periodic basis to remove vendors encumbering the pavement and has issued periodic instructions to ranks of the City Constabulary to take action against the vendors.

The learned judge granted the orders sought by Juman-Yassin, S.C., to compel the town clerk to prevent any person or persons from carrying or placing any receptacles or other articles on the pavement which incommode the applicants and/ or other persons in the use of the pavement and to prevent the placing, storing and or causing to be left any box, cart, freezers and trays on Regent Street immediately in front of the applicants’ property.

The town clerk was also ordered to pay costs to the applicants in the sum of $100,000 by the January 15, 2022.