SIBU: More than 100 hawkers in Kanowit who have won their civil suit against Kanowit District Council will seek compensation from the council.
Kanowit PKR Division chairman George Chen, who has been handling the case since April, said the affected hawkers would seek compensation for loss of incomes from April to December 31 as they have been forcedly evicted by the council from trading at the site.
The compensation will also cover the seizure of goods and tools used for their business. These items were confiscated in an operation conducted by the council with the assistance of Sarikei District Council.
On Oct 28, the Sibu High Court quashed the decision of the council made in April 2019 to terminate the trading licences of hawkers who are carrying out their businesses at its multi-purpose market.
The court had also at the same time made an Order, allowing the licensed hawkers to return and continue to trade at the market.
Five representing hawkers, namely Nisi Gasing, Tan Jing Hong, Lu Kwong, Hu Suk Tin and Fatimah Abdullah filed their cases against the council in the High Court.
Judicial Commissioner of the High Court Lim Hock Leng ruled that the tenure of the licences issued by the council was to run from Jan 1, 2019 to Dec 31, 2019, that the explicit statement and issuance of the licences gave rise to a legitimate expectation on the part of the licensees to continue trading until at least Dec 31, 2019.
Chen said the hawkers’ lawyers will firstly distribute the court order to the council either today or tomorrow.
“After that, we will have to look for a solution. The three parties of Nam Leong, KDC and the hawkers may have to sit down in accordance to the court order. KDC can choose to either comply with the court order or compensate the hawkers. Then it has to find a permanent trading site for the hawkers,” he said.
Chen said the hawkers were against the council’s action in forcedly evicting them from the market after it leased out the multi-purpose market to Nam Leong Sdn Bhd to operate a supermarket.
