KUALA LUMPUR: It is high time for the local councils to listen to the people for any future land development project, said Kepong member of Parliament Lim Lip Eng.
He said this following yesterday's landmark decision by the Federal Court to dismiss an appeal by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and three others over a controversial project utilising parts of Taman Rimba Kiara.
He said the Federal Court's decision had set the precedent for future court cases involving the local governments.
"This ruling sets a new direction for the future conduct by local authorities, whether state governments or local councils that they cannot bulldoze their way to implement a land development project that can eventually affect the local residents and other stakeholders.
"Henceforth, residents can jointly file a case in the court of law against the local governments and challenge the development orders that involve planning and environmental law," he said in a statement.
Lim added following the ruling, the local governments were also required to go through the due process of seeking the views of members of the public, who have a genuine interest in their neighbourhood, so that they could participate in the decision-making process before any land development orders are granted.
"One might question the amount of legal expenses that City Hall will have to bear, and ultimately the Kuala Lumpur ratepayers, as a result of its decision to oppose the desires of Taman Tun Dr Ismail residents and pursue the case to the highest court only to lose."
Yesterday, a three-member bench comprising Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, Federal Court Judges Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, in a unanimous decision quashed the development order granted by the City Hall for a proposed development of a high-rise residential project in Taman Rimba Kiara in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur.
The judges said there were no merits in the appeal.
The proposed development comprises nine blocks of high-rise apartments, particularly eight blocks of 42-54-storey serviced apartments and one block of 29-storey affordable apartments, with a basement and podium car parks.
On Jan 27, 2021, the Court of Appeal set aside the Nov 28, 2018, decision of the High Court which dismissed the judicial review brought by the residents to quash the conditional planning permission and development order by City Hall.
The residents filed the judicial review application on Aug 11, 2017, through the management bodies of Trellises Apartment, Kiara Green Townhouses, Residence Condominium, TTDI Plaza Condominium, The Greens Condominium, as well as TTDI Residents Association and four TTDI residents and homeowners.