Court rules housing minister had right to extend I-City handover deadline

• “We are of the considered view that a reasonable minister would have concluded that there are special circumstances that the EOT was necessary to the interest of the purchasers to ensure that the project is not abandoned.”

KUALA LUMPUR (June 24): The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Housing and Local Government Minister acted lawfully and in the interest of homebuyers by extending the deadline for developers of I-City to hand over vacant possession.

The Court of Appeal on Monday ruled that the minister acted within homebuyers’ rights under Regulation 12 of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulations 1989 (HDR).

The panel, led by Datuk Che Mohd Ruzima and joined by Datuk Mohamed Zaini and Datuk Ahmad Fairuz, sided with developer I-City Properties Sdn Bhd and the minister.

It overturned a High Court decision that had favoured 115 buyers of the project in Shah Alam, Selangor, who challenged the minister’s 2016 letter allowing the handover timeline to be extended from 42 to 48 months.

Ruzima, reading out the broad grounds of the bench, said that the Sept 1, 2016 letter, which granted the extension of time (EOT), was the minister’s decision under Regulation 12 of the HDR, not just a decision by the housing ministry controller.

He surmised that the minister had the legal authority to issue the extension, based on past Federal Court decisions.

“The High Court found that the minister considered irrelevant considerations. Upon perusing the affidavit evidence, we have a different view. The grounds given for EOT are substantiated with contemporaneous documents.

“We are of the considered view that a reasonable minister would have concluded that there are special circumstances that the EOT was necessary to the interest of the purchasers to ensure that the project is not abandoned,” Ruzima said.

The court said buyers didn’t need to be directly consulted because the minister’s duty is to act in their best interest. Referring to the Bludream City Development case, it confirmed the minister can make decisions on behalf of buyers to protect their rights.

“... we agree with the appellant's argument that the minister is entrusted with the responsibility to safeguard the purchasers' interests and the minister is entrusted to assume the role to bargain for the purchasers. There is no necessity for the purchasers to be personally involved,” Ruzima said.

Accordingly, the court set aside the High Court’s orders and allowed both appeals, awarding costs of RM20,000 for each appeal, both in the appellate court and the High Court.

Datuk Lim Chee Wee and Tan Jia Shen acted for I-City, Mohd Salehuddin Ali acted for the Attorney General’s Chambers while Wong Renn Xin acted for the 115 purchasers.

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