KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 7): The High Court on Tuesday has allowed the application by the liquidator of Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd for the 263.27-acre land in Mukim Batu - known as the ‘Duta enclave’ that currently houses various government complexes and facilities - to be transferred back to the company.

High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh allowed Semantan Estate’s application, to give effect to the order the company had obtained since 2009 - in one of the longest-standing civil land disputes since Merdeka - back to the liquidator after the court dismissed the government’s application for an adjournment of Tuesday’s hearing pending a proposed settlement by the government on the issue.

“The court orders the defendants to carry out the terms sought within three months of today,” the judge said in his decision after hearing oral submissions from lawyers representing the liquidator and government representatives from the Attorney General’s Chambers, after rejecting the application for adjournment. 

Ahmad Shahrir ordered the government to pay costs of RM50,000.

The 263.27 acres were acquired by the government in 1956 to be transformed into what they called ‘the Duta enclave’. Currently, it houses government buildings that include the Tun Razak hockey stadium, the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, the National Archives, the Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court, the government complex building along Jalan Duta (the Inland Revenue Board building), the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Academy, and possibly portions of the Federal Territory mosque.

In 2009, High Court judicial commissioner Zura Yahya ruled that the liquidator of Semantan Estate is the beneficial owner of the 263.27-acre land, and that the government had taken unlawful possession of and trespassed on the land.

The Court of Appeal and the Federal Court in 2013 had upheld the High Court’s decision. The apex court had also dismissed the government’s review application in Nov 2018.

The decision on Tuesday for the transfer of the 263.72-acre land within three months, free of encumbrances and liabilities from today, does not include the liquidators’ application for mesne profit damages sought by the plaintiff which is still pending.

Ahmad Shahrir, in allowing the application, also instructed:       

The company had named the Registrar of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Land as the defendant. 

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/node/721959