PUTRAJAYA: The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) has been granted leave from the Federal Court to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision. The Court of Appeal had deemed that a condition imposed by a residents’ association (RA) in the city council area requiring non-paying members to operate boom gates themselves without security guards was lawful. The leave was granted by a three-member bench consisting of Chief Judge of Malaya Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah and Federal Court judges Nallini Pathmanathan and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil on Thursday (Oct 11).
Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, chairing the bench, stated that MBPJ had fulfilled the threshold requirements under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964. He also mentioned that further arguments were necessary for three legal questions. Counsel Abraham Au, one of the lawyers representing MBPJ, confirmed this information when contacted by Bernama.
The first legal question pertains to whether local authorities are allowed to enact guidelines, regulations, or impose conditions when regulating guarded community schemes in residential areas to ensure the rights of residents are not hindered. The second question relates to whether it is permissible for residents’ associations to limit the rights of non-paying and non-members to use public roads in the residential area by requiring them to operate the boom gates on their own. The third question investigates whether a local authority, such as MBPJ, can balance the rights of residents who want a guarded community scheme with those who do not want such a scheme, by prohibiting those in favor of the scheme from restricting the rights of those against it to use public roads leading to the scheme.
The previous chairman of Parkville RA, Chow Hau Mun, who has been replaced by Lim Keng Jit, filed for a judicial review on behalf of Parkville Residents’ Association. The review sought a declaration stating that the association is entitled to impose a rule requiring non-paying owners, residents, or non-members to operate the boom gates without security guards. This came after MBPJ rejected the association’s request to impose the condition on March 30, 2021.
In July of the previous year, the Shah Alam High Court dismissed MBPJ’s judicial review and ruled that the city council’s decision to disallow the association from imposing the condition was not illegal, irrational, or unreasonable. However, on April 17 of this year, the RA succeeded in its appeal to the Court of Appeal, which overturned the High Court decision. The Court of Appeal permitted the RA’s review, causing the rejection of MBPJ’s decision to be overturned.
In the recent court proceedings, lawyers Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar, Abraham Au, Yatiswara Ramachandran, and Kenny Ng represented MBPJ, while lawyer Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar represented the Parkville RA. – Bernama
Credit: The Star : News Feed
