Wereh says eviction followed court order

WORKS Secretary David Wereh says a recent eviction of a senior public servant out of the Department of Works institutional housing in June Valley, Port Moresby, is consistent with a district court order and he was aware of the eviction notice.
It was understood that the public servant filed an application to seek an injunction in the National Court to prevent the eviction but it was dismissed last Wednesday.
However, Wereh responded to a news article and Facebook post by certain individuals and media as misleading and to set the record straight, the tenants alleged claims of an illegal eviction was false because he was no longer an employee of Department of Works.
The tenants initiated the court proceedings to stop the department from evicting them despite the court ruling in favour of Works Department and issued an eviction order.
Following the orders, the tenants, including an acting secretary of a government department, were given a month’s notice to vacate the house.
This was ample time but he failed to comply and police had to enforce the court order, Wereh said.
Wereh said the court ruled in favour of the Works Department as the rightful owner of the houses and issued an eviction order.
He said on receipt of the National Court order, the Works Department gave them a week’s notice to vacate but they had not complied with the notice so police had enforce the order.
Wereh said the house was a Works Department property. The case came to light after people who had been retrenched many years ago and had received their entitlements but continued to occupy the houses for the last 10 years.
He said Department of Works had issued many notices for them to vacate the houses to accommodate its staff.
Those illegal occupants took the department to court and most cases had been dismissed to date or ruled in favour of the State and the department, Wereh said.