Jais acquisition of land unlawful, says Court of Appeal

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has declared that the acquisition of a 10ha land belonging to a developer by Selangor Islamic Religious Department’s (Jais) to build a mosque, as unlawful.

The Court allowed the appeal brought by United Allied Empire Sdn Bhd (UAE) to overturn the High Court’s dismissal of its judicial review application.

A threeman panel led by Justice Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim held that the High Court had made erroneous findings of fact and law as well as failed to appreciate the evidence presented before it.

Abang Iskandar said Judicial Commissioner Datuk Azimah Omar was mistaken in facts and in law when she dismissed UAE’s judicial review application.

Justice Abang Iskandar said the Commissioner did not recognise the full importance of the evidence before her, leading to a plainly wrong decision.

The panel, which also comprised Justice Datuk Zamani A. Rahim and Datuk Zaleha Yusof, awarded UAE RM100,000 in costs for the court proceedings at the High Court and Court of Appeal.

The respondents in the case – the Selangor director of Lands and Mines, Kuala Selangor Land Administrator, Jais and the Selangor government were ordered to pay RM50,000 while the Selangor Islamic Religious Council and Selangor Zakat Board, were to pay RM50,000 in costs.

In its judicial review application, UAE alleged that the acquisition was made in bad faith to create a land bank for the religious authorities in Selangor and wanted the compulsory acquisition of its land to be revoked.

UAE then had submitted the approval to develop the land and provided 0.4ha for a mosque in 2013 in Batang Berjuntai, now known as Bestari Jaya in Kuala Selangor.

Instead, the Selangor state compulsorily acquired the entire 10ha purportedly to build the mosque.

On Nov 25 last year, Selangor’s assistant legal adviser, Naziah Mokhtar submitted to the appellate court that the mosque’s component was the mosque, a religious school and a burial site, so to merely interpret the mosque site as only the mosque was incorrect.

Under Article 13 of the Federal Constitution, compulsory acquisition of private land was only allowed if it benefited the public and if property owners received adequate compensation. — Bernama