Court to decide May10 Bukit Jalil residents' bid to stop eviction

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here will rule on May 10 regarding the Ladang Bukit Jalil residents’ petition to prevent the Kuala Lumpur Mayor from evicting them from their homes.

Judge Datin Zabariah Mohd Yusof set the date today after hearing submissions from both parties.The judge will decide on the interim injunction applied by the 41 residents, who are former estate workers, and their descendants, to stop the Kuala
Lumpur Mayor from demolishing their homes.

They filed the application after receiving a notice from the Mayor on March 1, asking them to vacate their homes on or before March 14.However, on March 14 they obtained an ex-parte injunction from the High Court to stop the Kuala Lumpur Mayor from demolishing their homes until the inter-parte hearing today April 27. Justice Zabariah has also extended the injunction until May 10.

On March 14 they filed a suit against the 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 mayor from demolishing their homes.

The residents' counsel, Datuk S. Ambiga, submitted that the court should grant the injunction pending the hearing of the suit, as she said that everybody had a right to live in their homes.

Another counsel, K. Ragunath, told the court that the land was formerly made up of 18,000 acres, but had been reduced to 26 acres after past development of the land.

He noted that the Kuala Lumpur City Hall had said that the 26 acres of land had been given to the Kuala Lumpur Islamic Department to build a Muslim cemeteryon the land.

Ragunath asked why, if the land was given to the Department, was City Hall involving itself in the matter?
He also stressed that residents were not squatters, as they did not trespass on the land and they had been living there for some time.Counsel Ashmadi Othman for the mayor 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