PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today dismissed a judicial review application by 39 strata owners of the iconic Ampang Park shopping centre against the land acquisition for the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Ampang Park station project.
In a unanimous decision, a three-man Court of Appeal bench led by Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim upheld the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision ruling that there was no merit in the appeal.
“Having considered the submissions by the counsels, the court is of the view that there are no merits in this contention by the appellants,” the judge said in his judgement.
Abang Iskandar also ruled that the acquisition of the appellants’ land properties as per their strata titles was done in compliance of the law and the right fundamental constitution.
The court ordered the appellants to pay RM70,000 in cost to the three respondents, namely RM30,000 to the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office director and the Federal Territories Land administrator and RM40,000 to MRT Corp.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan acted for the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office director and the Federal Territories Land administrator while lawyer Robert Lazar represented MRT Corp.
The 39 strata-title holders were represented by lawyers Datuk Zainur Zakaria, Datuk Edward Ng Boon Seong, Jason Ng Kau, and Adnan Seman.
On Jan 8, last year, 39 business owners and tenants of the Ampang Park shopping centre filed a legal action to overturn the approval for the mall’s demolition to make way for an underground walkway connecting the new MRT station to the Ampang Park Light Rail Transit (LRT) station.
Their application was dismissed by the High Court on June 30, last year, ruling that it was proper and had been done in accordance with the law, among them the Land Acquisition Act 1960.