PUTRAJAYA (Jan 19): The Federal Court on Wednesday (Jan 19) allowed the second series of the Auditor-General's Report 2019 and the addendum to the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 document to be used by lawyers representing Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) residents who are against the proposed Taman Rimba Kiara high-rise residential property project within TTDI because both documents are public documents which can be easily accessed by the public.
A three-member bench led by Federal Court Judge Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan allowed the usage of both documents by lawyers representing the TTDI residents during the planned hearing of the appeal by proponents of the Taman Rimba Kiara high-rise residential property project to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to quash the project’s development order.
“However, the relevance and weight of these two documents will be determined in the appeal proper. We say the application by the [TTDI] residents is not necessary [due to both documents being public documents].
"The documents are included in the appeal records [of the TTDI residents],” Justice Nallini said.
The three-member bench included Federal Court Judges Puan Sri Zaleha Yusof and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang.
Proponents of the planned Taman Rimba Kiara project — comprising eight blocks of high-end serviced apartments and one block of affordable apartments — are Memang Perkasa Sdn Bhd, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan and Bukit Kiara longhouse residents.
Memang Perkasa is the developer of the property project under a joint venture with Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan.
The Kuala Lumpur City Hall is also known as Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL).
It was reported that the TTDI residents protested against the proposed development which had secured conditional planning permission and a development order from DBKL and that the affordable apartments were reserved for the Bukit Kiara longhouse residents.
On Jan 27, 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed the development order given by DBKL to Memang Perkasa.
In doing so, the Court of Appeal set aside the High Court's decision on Nov 28, 2018 to reject the TTDI residents' attempt to stop the high-rise residential project.
Later on Sept 1, 2021, the Federal Court gave proponents of the project permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to quash the project’s development order.
In the apex court on Wednesday, representing the TTDI residents were lawyers Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar Gurdial, Abraham Au and Alliff Benjamin.
The lawyers helped the TTDI residents make the application to include the second series of the Auditor-General's Report 2019 and the addendum to the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 document in the appeal records.
Representing proponents of the Taman Rimba Kiara project, meanwhile, were lawyers B Thangaraj, Tan Sri Cecil Abraham, Khoo Guan Huat and Datuk Harpal Singh Grewal, who helped them oppose the relevance of the two documents to the appeal records.
Justice Nallini, however, said that as the two documents are considered public documents and accessible by the public, there should not be any dispute on the matter.