KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 20): The Federal Court has rejected the application by proponents of the planned Taman Rimba Kiara high-rise residential property project within Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) here for a five-member Federal Court bench to hear the proponents' appeal in April 2022 against the Court of Appeal's decision to quash the project's development order.

Alliff Benjamin Suhaimi, who is one of the lawyers representing opponents of the project, confirmed the matter when contacted by theedgemarkets.com.

"Yes we received a letter, I think last Wednesday or Thursday, confirming the matter," he said.

Proponents of the Taman Rimba Kiara project — comprising eight blocks of high-end serviced apartments and one block of affordable apartments on a 25 acre (about 10ha) site — 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).

TTDI residents are, however, against the Taman Rimba Kiara project.

According to Alliff, the Federal Court rejected Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan's application for a five-member Federal Court bench to hear the proponents' appeal on April 22 and 28, 2022.

He, however, did not specify reasons behind the rejection of Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan's application by the Federal Court.

In Malaysia, a three-member Federal Court bench normally sits in appeal hearings.

Parties in a case will have to write in to the Federal Court to request for an enlarged Federal Court bench for appeal hearings.

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.

Lawyers representing the TTDI residents include Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar Gurdial and Abraham Au.

It was reported that the TTDI residents protested against the proposed development which had secured conditional planning permission and the development order from DBKL and that the affordable apartments were reserved for the Bukit Kiara longhouse residents.

Representing proponents of the Taman Rimba Kiara project are lawyers B Thangaraj, Tan Sri Cecil Abraham, Khoo Guan Huat and Datuk Harpal Singh Grewal.

Abraham and another lawyer, Datuk SS Ruban, represented Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan in the application for an enlarged Federal Court bench.