Housewife sues City Hall over clock tower

Two Sabahans have taken legal action to stop development around the old Atkinson Clock Tower.

KOTA KINABALU: A housewife and a social activist filed a joint application at the High Court here for an order to stop the proposed construction of a 16-storey hotel-cum-shopping complex in the vicinity of the Atkinson Clock Tower in the heart of the city.

Housewife Lim Swee Geck, 53, and social activist Chang Chiew Kok @ Jefferi Johari, 32, filed their ex-parte application for leave for judicial review at the High Court’s registry through their lawyer Marcel Jude yesterday.

Lim, from Ranau, and Chang, from Kepayan near here, named City Hall, Central Town and Country Planning Board (CTCPB) and Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA) as the first, second and third respondents respectively.

They sought an order of mandamus to restrain SHTDA – whether by itself or by its agent or workmen or partners – from undertaking any works, including earthworks, civil engineering works, construction or any works around or within the perimeter of the Atkinson Clock Tower.

Alternatively, Lim and Chang are seeking mandatory injunctions under various sections of the laws and local council and town planning ordinances to restrain SHTDA or its agent or workmen or partners from carrying any works around and within the perimeter of the clock tower.

The two applicants are also seeking, among others, an order of mandamus directing the first and second respondents to provide all minutes of their meetings to them (the two applicants) with regard to development in the vicinity of the clock tower.

They are also seeking an interim injunction to prevent the three respondents from carrying out development pending the outcome of their legal action.

The High Court will hear the inter-parte arguments of the application on Jan 18, this year.

Statutory responsibility

In the supporting affidavit, Lim and Chang claimed that the development undertaken by SHTDA and the granting of approval of the development plan which allowed commercial and hotel development in the area are not consistent or in accordance with the development laws governing Kota Kinabalu.

They said this was because of the failure of City Hall and CTCPB to ensure compliance with all the legal requirements pertaining to development law.

For this reason, they said, City Hall and CTCPB should be added as parties to their legal action.

Lim and Chang said that both – City Hall and CTCPB – had failed to carry out their statutory responsibility diligently when they failed to ensure that the local plans for the area under their jurisdiction are up to date and had been approved by the head of state in a timely manner.

They also requested that the minutes of all meetings of CTCPB be made available for public inspection as they are of immense public interest.

The minutes are relevant to determine whether there has been a systematic attempt by the CTCPB to hide its dealings from the public.

Previously, Lim had filed an ex-parte application for leave for judicial review of the same matter on Sept 29, last year, and only named SHTDA as the sole respondent.

However, she and Chang filed the new ex-parte application naming the two additional respondents.

When met at the court, Lim told reporters that when she first named SHTDA as respondent, her intention was only to ask the court for a judicial review as to whether the proposed 16-storey building was going to affect the status of the clock tower status as a heritage artifact.

She said that when she did more research into the case, she realised that the project was approved not according to procedures.

“A lot of things done had not been transparent,” she said.

She claimed that there had been no attempt by the government and City Hall to demonstrate that they had put public interest first in carrying out their duties. - FMT