PETALING JAYA: A group of vegetable farmers in Chemor have obtained a temporary injunction against the Perak state economic agency from trespassing on the land they were farming on, pending the disposal of their civil action against the state authorities.
Ipoh High Court judicial commissioner Su Tiang Joo granted the interim injunction on Wednesday.
The court also fixed June 21 for the next case management on the injunction.
Lawyer Rabinder Singh, who appeared for the farmers, said that the injunction was to maintain the status quo so that they could enter the land and continue their work.
“The court order has been served on Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak (PKNP) and they have been notified to comply with it,” he added.
The farmers, in their suit filed last month, said they had been farming on parts of the land since the 1940s.
They said the state government and PKNP had acknowledged their interest in the land and made presentations to them, saying the state government would move them to other plots of land suitable for farming.
They also claimed the state government promised to grant them a 30-year lease at a nominal rent.
“However, in December last year, PKNP asked the farmers to leave as they wanted to take possession of the land.
“A suit was filed against the farmers for this purpose. PKNP tried to get a summary judgment to evict them from the land before withdrawing the suit,” Rabinder said.
The lawyer said the farmers commenced their civil action suit after they were still prevented from entering the land.
Last April, the police arrested one of the farmers, Tan Tean Chee, for allegedly obstructing a policeman from carrying out his duty. He was later released.
Tan, the head of Persatuan Petani Moden Chemor, had led other farmers in trying to stop PKNP’s soil testers from entering their farm.
Lawyers for PKNP had reportedly asked the court for permission to enter the land for soil testing, but a judge had denied the request.
Source: Perak farmers get interim injunction to stop state agency entering land | Free Malaysia Today (FMT)