Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has ordered the government to compensate Semantan Estate Sdn Bhd for occupying a 106ha piece of land in Kuala Lumpur, known as the Duta Enclave, for close to 70 years.

A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Justice Lee Swee Seng said monetary compensation was a more apprproate remedy than allowing the authorities to transfer the land title to the company.

“The land in question houses several key government buildings. A transfer of title is not feasible,” Lee said in a unanimous ruling allowing the government’s appeal.

The government had said it was prepared to pay adequate compensation to the company for the property.

Justices Azimah Omar and Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh also heard the appeal.

The bench then remitted the case to the High Court and ordered that an assessment of compensation be conducted within 90 days, with the assistance of experts.

The bench also dismissed Semantan Estate’s cross-appeal for a mandamus to transfer the land to the company and compel the land authorities to register the land.

The Court of Appeal also ordered Semantan Estate and the government to each bear their own costs.

The appeals court also ordered the government to pay Semantan Estate damages in the form of mesne profits for its unlawful occupation of the property.

The profits are to be calculated from Dec 3, 1956 until the date that the compensation sum is settled in full.

A case management for the assessment of damages will be held at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on June 30.

The court was previously told that the property was now valued at RM12 billion.

In an immediate reaction, lead counsel Cyrus Das, acting for Semantan Estate, told reporters he had instructions to appeal the decision to the Federal Court.

“We will be filing questions of law to obtain leave for the apex court to hear the appeal,” he said.

Das said Semantan Estate would also seek a stay of all proceedings in the High Court, including the assessment of damages hearing.

The senior lawyer said Semantan Estate would be seeking to enforce a 2009 High Court order, affirmed by the Federal Court in 2012, that the company remained the beneficial owner of the property.

Last year, the High Court ordered the government to transfer the land to Semantan Estate after allowing the company’s suit against the Kuala Lumpur land registrar.

However, the government obtained a stay order pending the disposal of its appeal in the Court of Appeal, which was concluded today.

The Duta Enclave has witnessed the construction of a number of government complexes and sports facilities, as well as several other landmarks.

In 2009, the High Court ruled that the government had trespassed on the land and was in unlawful occupation of it following a botched acquisition.

Then judicial commissioner Zura Yahya accordingly declared that Semantan Estate retained a beneficial interest in the subject land.

The decision was upheld by the Federal Court three years later.