KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today dismissed a judicial review application by three people over the extension of licence granted to Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
Counsel Dinesh Athinarayanan who represented the three, namely Save Malaysia Stop Lynas chairman Tan Bun Teet and two Kuantan residents, Ismail Abu Bakar and G. Ponusamy, said judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid delivered the decision via e-mail today.
"The judicial review was dismissed and the court ordered RM20,000 as global costs to be paid to the first to 30th respondents and another RM20,000 in costs to be paid to the 31st respondent (Lynas)," he said when contacted.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly, who acted for the respondents, said the court did not provide the grounds of judgment today.
The respondents named in the legal action were former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the 27 Cabinet ministers at that time, the government, the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and Lynas.
On Jan 8, last year, the court allowed the three individuals' bid to initiate their judicial review application proceedings.
They had among others sought a declaration that Dr Mahathir and the 27 Cabinet ministers' collective decision as the federal cabinet on Aug 15, 2019, to allow a six-month licence extension for Lynas to operation was null and void.
The first applicant, Tan, also filed his objection to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) by showing there were breaches to the licensing conditions and underground water pollution as included in the Executive Review Committee report.