KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 — The Cabinet will deliberate on next course of action regarding the High Court’s decision on the land near Jalan Duta.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the matter needed more discussion as it the court decision sets future precedence for similar land dispute cases.
“That land was used for public usage, government buildings, not for private usage, but perhaps it was based on existing laws.
“I will propose for the Cabinet to look into this because what will happen to other land that the government took from pre-or post-Merdeka for government usage and then later it’s been taken over by private sectors, or private sectors bought the land for farming purposes and later sell them off for industrial use, so the seller who sold at a low price will get high competition.
“If everyone uses this method and with the current court’s principles, the country will be in chaos,” Anwar told reporters after launching the federal statutory bodies management and governance guidelines here today.
Anwar added that both parties — the government and Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd — have requested for a discussion on the matter.
He said this matter has very serious implications on the country especially because there are other similar land use adopted by the government in the earlier days in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Selangor.
On August 7, the High Court has ordered the return of some 106.54ha land near Jalan Duta, home to several government complexes, to Semantan Estate.
The Edge reported that this decision came after a High Court on Tuesday approved the liquidator’s request to transfer the land dubbed as Duta Enclave in Mukim Batu to Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd.
Currently, several government buildings sit on this land plot. They include the former National Hockey Stadium, the National Tennis Complex, the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia, the Federal Territory Mosque, the National Archives, and the Inland Revenue Board Complex.
Judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Salleh reportedly allowed the company’s application, enforcing a 2009 court order that mandates the transfer of the land to its liquidator.
In 2010, the High Court ruled that the acquisition of the land by the government was not lawfully executed lawfully and that government had been a trespasser of the land.
The decision was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal on May 18, 2012 and on November 21.
In the same year, the Federal Court refused the government’s leave to appeal against the decision effectively making the High Court ruling final and binding.
The Selangor government had in 1956 declared that the land belonging to Semantan Estates was required for public purpose.
It was later in 1989 that Semantan Estates filed an action against the federal government citing trespassing, and claiming the possession of the land was unlawful and wrongful.
