Dozens of residents evicted by one commercial farmer in 2013 lived out in the open for months, then later in tents or shoddy housing on the fringes of a government forest reserve, with inadequate access to water and no source of livelihood or permission to cultivate land.
The court ordered the attorney general, the local government and one of the companies at issue to provide relief, including providing alternative land and compensation for rights violations.
The government should swiftly execute this order to ensure that community members have access to land and water and get help with building new homes and returning to farming.
Petitioners had sought more and requested that the court cancel the commercial farm's land title, and questioned the legality of the conversion of their land into a farm block.
The court then ordered the government to provide alternative land and compensation.
