Estate workers at Ladang Bangi are crying foul over what they say is an underhand tactic at trying to evict them from their homes.

The workers had yesterday found in their letterbox a notice from estate developer Transloyal Development Sdn Bhd, asking that they appear at Shah Alam High Court tomorrow morning as part of an eviction process.

PSM Ladang Bangi court order police report S Arutchelvan This was despite the originating summons having been filed on October 17 but was only served yesterday - ten days later, said Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) secretary-general S Arutchelvan ( right ).

"Serving it on a Saturday and expecting the workers to show up on a Monday morning - and lawyers offices are all closed on weekends - they (the developer) are hoping that these people will not attend court.

"If the workers fail to appear, then they can push for an order for vacant possession by default judgement," he said when contacted.

The group of 24 workers and their children have since lodged a police report over the matter this morning at the Kajang district police headquarters.

In the police report, they also complained that the notice was not addressed to anyone in specific and was also placed in the letterbox of vacant houses.

The report read: "We are making this complaint because the notice served did not follow proper procedure, is invalid and was served in too short a time.

"This action raises suspicion over why the developer and their lawyers only serve the notice on Oct 27 when the case is fixed for Oct 29 which does not allow us to get legal assistance on a weekend.

"This shows that the developer and their lawyer have an devious agenda and has placed us in a desperate and pressed situation."

'Selangor gov't negotiations undermined'

Arutchelvan added that the legal notice also came as a surprise and usurped negotiations being conducted by the Selangor government.

He explained that the state government had been facilitating negotiations between the developer and estate workers and the former had never mentioned legal action.

"In fact the last meeting was held on Oct 25 at the Kajang Municipal Council and they pretended that there were no problems and everything was going well," he said.

He added that the developer had at the meeting assured estate workers that suitable low cost housing would be found for them.

Arutchelvan said despite the workers being unprepared, they will still appear in court tomorrow but will complain to the judge on the matter.