Parties in class action suit over water cuts seek documents from govt

 

The pollution of Sungai Gong in September last year led to four days of water cuts affecting 1.2 million families in the Klang Valley. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: An MP and 809 residents who sued the federal government and others over water cuts last year want the authorities to provide documents on their probe into the pollution of Sungai Gong in Selangor.

In their discovery application, PKR’s Wangsa Maju MP Tan Yee Kew and the residents said these documents are important in the upcoming High Court trial.

“The government, in its defence statement, has made references to some documents which we have no knowledge of.

“Thus, it is important for these documents to be handed to us in the interest of justice,” she said.

Among the documents they are seeking are those on checks conducted on factories around Sungai Gong, trial documents related to the court case against the directors and manager of a workshop, Yip Chee Seng & Sons Sdn Bhd, and official reports on the Sept 3, 2020 Sungai Gong pollution.

Tan and the residents filed the suit in the High Court in April against Yip Chee Seng & Sons, the state authorities and the federal government over water disruptions in the Klang Valley that lasted four days from Sept 3 last year.

They want a court declaration that the workshop was liable for negligence, and that the public authorities, including the state and federal governments, had breached their statutory duties in not maintaining water quality.

They are also seeking damages for their hardship and suffering during the disruption.

Also named as defendants are the menteri besar, Selayang municipal council, Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) and the irrigation and drainage department.

The other defendants are the National Water Services Commission (SPAN), the Environmental Quality Council, the environment department, the environment and water minister, Air Selangor and Pakar Scieno TW Sdn Bhd.

The federal government, in its defence, said its officers conducted investigations at Yip Chee Seng & Sons on March 17 and 18, 2020, and found no hazardous waste being dumped into the river.

Neither did the officers find any effluent in the workshop during a check on Sept 3, 2020. They only found used oil filters, lubricating oil and used car batteries.

Yip Chee Seng & Sons’ four directors and a manager were charged in the Selayang sessions court last year with committing mischief by causing hazardous waste to flow into the rivers and are awaiting trial.

Air Selangor and SPAN have also sought to strike out the suit.

Air Selangor said it should not be held liable over the water cuts while SPAN said the disruptions were not within its control.

SPAN said Tan and the residents had no legal standing to file the suit. - FMT