MORE than 200 owners including residents of three apartment complexes in Taman Maluri, Cheras have successfully quashed a Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) decision allowing a developer to construct another apartment complex in the vicinity. 

Court of Appeal judge Justice Lee Swee Seng ordered Pavilion Integrity Sdn Bhd to halt construction of the proposed new apartment complex. 

The parties involved in the appeal include DBKL and the Federal Territories ministry. 

Lee chaired a three-man bench that included Justices M Gunalan and Nordin Hassan. 

DBKL was also instructed to acquire the plot of land allocated for the new apartment complex – known as Lot 810 – and use it to construct a 66ft road for the use of residents to ease their traffic woes. 

Under KL City Plan 2020, Lot 810 was designated for road construction. 

In delivering the unanimous judgment, Lee lambasted DBKL for “flip-flopping” on its decisions relating to Lot 810. 

Lee described DBKL’s final decision as irrational and unreasonable as no proper explanation had been presented to the affected residents. 

“(DBKL’s decisions were) made willy-nilly with no proper and credible reports to explain the deviation from what had been disclosed in the city plan,” he added. 

On March 14, 2018, DBKL had issued a development order in favour of Pavilion, which allowed it to build a 45-storey service apartment on the lot. 

DBKL also approved a new traffic flow system for the Taman Maluri area. 

However, on December 7 of the same year, DBKL retracted the development order and said that it was sticking to the city plan’s proposal for the 66ft road. 

Four months later, DBKL said it had “reconsidered the matter” and was now allowing Pavilion Integrity to proceed with the proposed new serviced apartments. 

The house buyers and residents then took out judicial review proceedings to quash DBKL’s decisions pertaining to the apartment complex and the proposed new traffic flow. 

Home owners and residents were represented by lawyers Ambiga Sreenevasan, Ho Kok Yew, Latheefa Koya, and Shahid Adli Kamarudin. 

Lawyer Haris Salleh Hamzah appeared for DBKL, while Harpal Singh Grewal and S Selvarajah acted for Pavilion Integrity. – October 7, 2022.