The Court of Appeal upheld the leave granted to Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd to commence a legal challenge against the government’s decision to terminate the contract for the Klang Valley Double Tracking (KVDT2) project.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi confirmed that the three-person bench, chaired by Court of Appeal judge Lee Swee Seng, today dismissed an appeal to quash the judicial review leave previously granted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Hanir is acting for the Transport Ministry and the government, who were appealing to overturn the leave granted to Dhaya Maju to proceed with the judicial review against the termination of the contract. Both are respondents targeted by Dhaya Maju’s legal action.
“The Court (of Appeal) said that the (government’s) grounds of termination of the project (Dhaya Maju’s contract) - public interest, public safety, and national interest - is amenable to judicial review,” he said when contacted after proceedings today.
He added that he would be seeking instructions on whether to file an appeal with the Federal Court against today’s decision.
When contacted, Dhaya Maju’s counsel Lim Chee Wee also confirmed that the Court of Appeal denied the appeal by the Transport Ministry and the government.
In a media statement today, the company noted that today’s ruling meant that the High Court’s stay order against the reopening of the project’s tender remains for the time being.
Today was set for the online hearing of the appeal by the ministry and government.
On April 14, High Court judge Noorin Badaruddin gave the green light for Dhaya Maju to commence with the judicial review targeting the government’s decision to cancel the contract with the company over the project.
The judge also allowed a stay on the government’s decision to reopen a public tender for the project, pending disposal of the judicial review bid.
Filed on Sept 3 last year at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, the judicial review seeks to nullify the government's decision to cancel the contract for the KVDT2 project and to reopen the related tender.
Before the Kuala Lumpur High Court, Dhaya Maju also has an ongoing second legal action against the government in relation to the termination of the KVDT2 contract.
The second legal action is a writ of summons seeking to nullify a letter issued by the government dated Sept 23 last year to terminate the contract to the project.
In August last year, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong announced that the government would reopen the tender for the KVDT2 rail project, alleging that investigations found the RM4.475 billion price tag for the project was too high, despite cost-cutting measures made by the previous Pakatan Harapan federal administration.
The project came into the spotlight after Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz revealed details of the 101 contracts that were purportedly awarded through a direct negotiation process during the time Harapan was in power.
KVDT2 is the largest contract, in terms of value, on the list.
Previously, Dhaya Maju also had a third legal action, namely a writ of summons, over the matter.
However, that writ of summons has since been withdrawn in order to consolidate the legal actions over the KVDT2 issue. - Mkini
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