PUTRAJAYA: A seven-year legal saga ended today for the Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) Residents' Association as the Federal Court quashed a development order by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to develop Taman Rimba Kiara.
The three-member panel today upheld the Court of Appeal's decision that the development order obtained in 2017 by the joint venture of Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan and developer Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd for the Taman Rimba Kiara project was null and void.
Judge Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan when reading the unanimous judgment said it was incumbent upon the court to protect the public's interest when land allocated for public space is removed from public use and utilised for private ownership.
"We have found that the Federal Territory (FT) Act and the KL Structure Plan 2020 have been contravened by the issuance of the impugned development order.
"The public has a general expectation that the decision of the local authority will comply with the KL Structure Plan 2020.
"However, in this case, there was deviation from the said plan.
"We are cognisant of the fact that the FT Act gives the public the right to participate in the planning process, and this is a statutory right to be heard," she said.
The other members of the bench were Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah and Federal Court Judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang.
Nallini also questioned the mayor's decision to utilise an old development plan known as the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) instead of relying on the KL Structure Plan 2020 which had been gazetted.
She said the CDP has no relevance to the grant of a development order in relation to the subject lands because it was inapplicable to the same.
"The mayor more over failed to establish whether and how he gave due consideration to the Structure Plan before choosing to rely on the CDP which, in any event is inapplicable in relation to the subject land.
"The objective of the legislature in enacting provisions that guard the integrity of public participation in forming any Statutory Development Plan is clear.
"Town planning represents a very real meeting point between administrative authorities and citizens," she said.
She said town planning decrees specify how private lives should be organised for the purpose of regulated town planning.
"This puts into sharp focus the need for public participation in forming Statutory Development Plans that function to organise and lock in the regulation of development for the ultimate benefit of citizens in public spaces for decades to come."
TTDI residents had protested against the proposed high-end development, which had gained conditional planning permission and development order by City Hall.
DBKL had in 2016 approved the housing development on 4.86ha of land in Taman Rimba Kiara, which was designated as a public open space under the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020.
When the project was first proposed in 2016, it comprised of eight blocks of 42 to 54-storey high-end serviced apartments (2,277 units) and a 29-storey block comprising 350 affordable housing units.
Residents had expressed fear that the development might encroach into Taman Rimba Kiara.
The revised plan includes a 17-storey block of 204 affordable housing units for the Bukit Kiara longhouse folk, and four blocks of 41 to 45-storey condominiums, comprising 1,082 units in total.