A group of vendors at the San Juan Public Market has moved ahead with its legal challenge over rent increases at the facility.
High Court Judge Avason Quinlan-Williams yesterday granted one of the vendors, Bassant Sankar, leave to pursue a judicial review claim against the San Juan/ Laventille Regional Corporation, which operates the facility.
In the lawsuits, Sankar is claiming that the rent on their stalls was increased by the corporation several times without it passing bye-laws as required under the Municipal Corporations Act.
The last time the corporation passed a bye-law related to the market was in 1996 when the rent for stalls was between $40 and $60 per month, based on the produce or goods being sold.
Since then, the fee has been changed three times.
The fee rose between 2010 and 2011 to $50 a week and to $75 a week between 2012 and 2017. The final increase came in 2017 when the rent was raised to $200 a week.
Earlier this month, another vendor Nanda Permanand was granted leave by another judge for a similar lawsuit.
The other vendors are currently in the process of filing similar claims, which may be joined at a later stage when the cases are set to go to trial.
Through the lawsuits, the vendors are seeking declarations that the corporation acted illegally in raising the rent and a rebate on the excess rent they have been paying since the increases.
During the brief hearing at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain, Quinlan-Williams questioned the vendors’ lawyer Gerald Ramdeen if he was certain that the last bye-law was passed in 1996 as claimed in the lawsuit.
Ramdeen said he was sure but noted that he served the lawsuit on the corporation to give it an opportunity to respond to the allegation and it refused.
He said he was troubled by the corporation’s response as he claimed that its legal officer said that it would not be appearing in the case.
Asked by Quinlan-Williams if his clients had paid rent since they threatened the lawsuit in August, Ramdeen said: “They attempted to tender rent but they (the corporation) are not accepting it.”
The vendors are also being represented by Dayadai Harripaul and Umesh Maharaj.