City Hall's bid to strike out Bukit Jalil residents' suit set for July 5

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court set July 5 to hear Kuala Lumpur City Hall's application to strike out a suit by Bukit Jalil Estate residents relating to the eviction notice and demolition of their houses.

Justice Datin Zabariah Mohd Yusof set the date in chambers after meeting counsel Muhammad Afiq Mohamad Noor representing the 41 residents who were former workers of the estate when the case came up for case management.  

Muhammad Afiq told the media that the court directed the plaintiffs (the residents) to file an affidavit-in-reply to City Hall's application to strike out the suit by June 15.

On March 14, the residents filed a suit against the Kuala Lumpur Mayor seeking a declaration that the plaintiffs had an exclusive right and had equity in the land, as well as seeking an injunction to stop the City Hall from demolishing their homes.

On May 10, Justice Zabariah dismissed their application for an interim injunction to stop the City Hall from demolishing their homes.

However, they obtained an interim injuction from the Court of Appeal pending their hearing of the appeal proper over the High Court's ruling.

The Bukit Jalil Estate, formerly made up of 18,000 acres, had been reduced to 26 acres after recent development of the land.

During the hearing of the injunction on April 27, the court was told that City Hall had given the land (26 acres) to JAIS to build a Muslim cemetery.

The residents' co-counsel Ragunath Kesavan had submitted that the residents were not squatters, as they did not trespass on the land and they had been living there for some time after the estate was sold to a private developer.

Counsel Ashmadi Othman representing the mayor had submitted that the mayor was only carrying out his public duty by issuing the eviction notice and that the suit against the mayor was improper. — Bernama