Semantan Estate fails in High Court discovery application

 Justice Roslan Mat Nor says the documents sought are not in the possession, custody or control of the government.

The Duta Enclave houses several government complexes, sport facilities and other major landmarks. (X pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 The Kuala Lumpur High Court has rejected an application by Semantan Estate (1952) Sdn Bhd seeking discovery of documents to prepare an assessment report of compensation payable by the government.

Justice Roslan Mat Nor dismissed the application after hearing submissions from both parties today. He made no order as to costs.

Semantan had applied for the discovery of several documents, including revenue survey sheets, land survey and yield records, land acquisition plans, and documents related to land use zoning between 1956 and 1960.

Lawyer Janet Chai, who represented Semantan, submitted that the documents were in the possession of the Selangor land and mines office, the survey and mapping department, the National Archives, and Kuala Lumpur City Hall.

Roslan said the documents sought were not in the possession, custody or control of the government.

“The court finds that although the plaintiff made efforts to obtain the documents, as stated in the affidavit, the records could not be located,” he said when delivering his brief grounds of judgment, reported Utusan Malaysia.

He said discovery under Order 24 of the Rules of Court 2012 applies only to documents within a party’s possession or control, and cannot be used to obtain documents that do not exist or are not in that party’s custody.

‘Semantan’s application lacks specificity’

Earlier today, senior federal counsel Azza Azmi told the court Semantan’s application failed to meet basic legal requirements and lacked specificity.

She argued that the plaintiff must prove the existence of the documents, their relevance to the dispute, their possession by the party concerned, and their necessity.

“The plaintiff merely identified four agencies that ‘may’ have the documents without specifying the types of documents or the actual custodian.

“Checks revealed that the documents were not in the possession of the agencies concerned, except for one document that had already been produced in the reply affidavit,” she said.

Azza also pointed to confusion over the jurisdiction of the agencies involved, particularly that the Selangor land and mines office falls under the state rather than the federal government.

Roslan fixed April 10 for case management.

In January, the court refused an application by Semantan for more time to obtain documents ahead of the assessment of compensation payable by the government, saying that the long-running dispute could no longer be delayed.

Semantan’s legal battle began in 2003, when it sued the government, claiming that its 106-hectare parcel of land in the city, known as the Duta Enclave, had been unlawfully acquired since 1956.

The land under dispute, located in the prime Jalan Duta area, now houses several government buildings, including the National Hockey Stadium, the National Archives, the Kuala Lumpur shariah court, the Inland Revenue Board, and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Academy.

In 2009, the High Court ruled in Semantan’s favour, but subsequent appellate decisions held that the company was not entitled to the land title.

On June 24, 2025, the Court of Appeal ruled that Semantan was instead entitled to adequate compensation, to be assessed based on the land’s value in 1956 when the government took possession of it, and ordered an assessment of mesne profits.

On Nov 13 last year, the Federal Court dismissed Semantan’s application for leave to appeal, leaving the Court of Appeal’s decision in force and paving the way for the assessment proceedings now before the High Court. - FMT