Court orders City Engineer to clear parapets, entryways to Water Street store

Feb 23, 2022 News

Vendors regularly use the entrance of stores on Water Street to ply their trade.

Kaieteur News – Justice Jo Ann Barlow,on Tuesday, sitting in the Demerara High Court,ordered that City Engineer of Georgetown, Colvern Venture, to take the necessary steps to remove all vehicles, carts, dray carts, barrels and boxes situated in front of the Collections Boutique and Centre located at Lot 27 Water Street, Georgetown.
The proprietor of Collections Boutique and Centre, Dian Balram, through her lawyer, Siand Dhurjon, sued the City Engineer and the Georgetown City Council by way of a fixed date application in the Supreme Court on November 17, 2021.
In keeping with the request of the applicant to have the area cleared, Justice Barlow commanded the City Engineer to remove all vehicles, carts, dray carts, barrels, boxes and all encumbrances on the pavements, streets and footpaths in the vicinity of Collections Boutique and Centre.
During the trial, the Court agreed with submissions that were made by Dhurjon that City By-Law 10, made under the Municipal and District Councils Act, Cap.28:01, places a statutory duty on the City Engineer to ensure that the pavements, streets, parapets, and foot-paths of the city of Georgetown are not overloaded by persons placing things on them.
Balram, in her affidavit to the Court, swore that vendors were hindering and preventing her from accessing her premises to an unacceptable extent by placing structures, stalls, stands, boxes, goods and other things on the pavements, street and footpath in front of her boutique. “I am usually unable to drive my vehicle into my said premises in the afternoons. Often, customers would come to pick up goods and would be unable to make use of the driveway and entryway for ingress and egress. The same would occur when deliveries are made,” Balram explained. Further, she claimed that this problem has been occurring for years.
Balram wrote letters to the City Council and Engineer on many occasions on the issue. She even visited the Council three times in 2021 – but all to no avail.
In response to the Court action, Attorney-at-Law Darren Wade—whoappearedon behalf of the Town Clerk and City Engineer of the Georgetown council—statedthat when he and the staff of the City Council visited the premises, they found no one to be blocking Balram’s Boutique. It was also stated that the City Council was doing all that they could to clear up the area.
A rank attached to the City Council who appeared stated however, that indeed vendors were blocking the pavement and access ways to Collections Boutique and that the City Council had not even sat to consider the issue raised by Balram in her lawsuit in the nearly three months since it was filed.
Wadesubmitted to the Court that the City Council had no obligation under law to remove vehicles, carts, stalls and other ‘mobile things’ which could be moved around.
The Court agreed with Dhurjon however, that By Law 10 makes no distinction between fixed or mobile things and requires the pavements, streets, footpaths of the City to be unencumbered.

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