Deepa Nair BalakrishnanThe residents of the contested former Bukit Jalil Estate were deeply disappointed today when the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed their injunction against Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) preventing it from demolishing their homes before a full-trial on their status as legal residents.
High Court Judicial Commisioner Zubariah Mohd Yusof also found no flaws in the eviction notices issued by DBKL, as argued by the lawyers for the residents.
Zubariah ruled that the defendant, DBKL, can legally cite the Emergency Ordinance 1969 (Squatter Clearance) to evict the residents despite not being the landowner of the former estate.
Hence, she said, the eviction notices served on the residents by DBKL were legal.
“There is also evidence of efforts (by DBKL) to relocate the residents and compensate them,” she said, to a packed courtroom.
Zubariah thus side-stepped the argument by DBKL that injunctions should not be granted against government agencies, as this prevents them from discharging their public duties.
The residents’ lawyer, Ambiga Sreenevasan, then requested for an interim injunction order pending the full-trial of the residents’ claims in October.
Video by DEEPA NAIR Citizen Journalist
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