Court rules in MPKj’s favour

The Star, Saturday March 16, 201

Dangerous: The slope in Taman Desa Karunmas is situated near the housing area where a landslide occurred in 2002.

 

IN a first-of-a-kind verdict, the Kajang Municipal Council won a court case against a developer, thus setting a precedent for future cases.

At a press conference at Menara MPKj, Eric Tan and Lim Lip Eng, the counsels representing the council, said this was the first time a council had sued a developer and won.

The council sued the developer for failing to build a retaining wall.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled in favour of the Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) on March 14 in a suit brought against the developer of Taman Desa Karunmas in Balakong.

Judge Datuk John Louis O’Hara ordered a mandatory injunction for the defendants (developer) to take immediate action to stabilise the slope at lot 6504 and lot 1758 and build two retaining walls, Nehemiah Reinforced Soil Wall and Bored Pile Wall, along the slope.

Tan said that until the wall was built, the slope was the developer’s responsibility, not the council’s.

“No time frame has been imposed on the developer to build the wall but it must be built within a reasonable period of time.

Also present were Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching, Senator S.T. Chandramohan, MPKj councillors Lee Kee Hiong and Eddie Ng.

Teo said the issue had been going on for almost 13 years.

“In 2001, the project was completed and CF issued but a landslide occurred in 2002.”

Teo urged the developer to start work as soon as possible.

“If they fail to do so, I will urge the state government to blacklist them.”

Lee said that at the council’s infrastructure meeting, she had suggested that the state government should freeze projects undertaken by the developer.