Two environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have gone to court to cite a developer for contempt over alleged development work at the Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve.
Khazanah Alam Malaysia (Peka) and Shah Alam Community Forest Society (SACF) filed the committal application leave over the purported contravening of a court order against any development being carried out at the forest reserve.
On Aug 11, the High Court in Shah Alam ordered a stay over the Selangor government’s plan to proceed with the degazettement of part of the forest reserve.
The order was granted pending the disposal of a judicial review leave application by Peka and SACF that targeted the validity of the degazettement. The court will hear the leave application on Sept 28.
In the event that the court grants leave, it would later set a date to hear submissions from lawyers of the opposing parties over the merits of the legal challenge.
Degazettement refers to the removal of legal protection against development in relation to a forest area.
However, on Sept 13, Peka claimed that a developer was violating the court order, due to reports from members of the public, who were going through the area, of the sound of manual labour and work going on at Bukit Cerakah.
When contacted by Malaysiakini, the environmental groups’ counsel Rajesh Nagarajan confirmed that the contempt of court leave application was filed yesterday against YCH Development Sdn Bhd.
Following the filing of the bid, the court would later set a date to hear the application to decide whether Peka and SACF should be granted leave to proceed with the committal proceedings.
If leave is given, the court would set another date to hear the contempt application proper.
Under civil action, committal proceedings may result in imprisonment and fines if the court finds a party has committed contempt.
According to copies of the contempt leave application and accompanying affidavit sighted by Malaysiakini, law firm Raj & Sach filed the cause papers via e-filing last night.
Stay order
In the affidavit affirmed by Peka's chairperson Damien Thaman Divean, he claimed that YCH Development was successfully allowed by the court to intervene in the judicial review proceedings on Sept 2.
Damien alleged that on Sept 2, they had served on the company copies of the court's stay order over Bukit Cerakah dated Aug 11, to ensure that it would have knowledge of the ruling.
He claimed that the firm's lawyers - via a letter dated Sept 2 - had responded by saying that the company would continue with the works on the land which originated from the decision of the Selangor state executive councillors dated May 5.
The said decision is for the degazettement of Bukit Cerakah via a state government gazette dated April 14.
Damien claimed that the company was already made aware of the stay order against the degazettement during an online case management of the judicial review, via Zoom, on Sept 2.
He alleged that in the event that leave to commence contempt proceedings is not granted, then the developer would continue to violate the court's stay order over the forest reserve.
The application for leave to commence committal proceedings was made under Order 52 of the Rules of Court 2012.
The main judicial review named the following as respondents: the state government, its executive councillors, state Forestry Department directors and the Petaling Land and Mines Department.
Via the legal action, Peka and SACF - which are acting through applicants Damien and Lim Teck Wyn respectively - seek to challenge the legality of the degazettement of 406ha of land in the forest reserve.
The applicants claimed that the degazettement decision was obsolete as it was made 22 years ago.
They also claimed it was unlawful for the state government to backdate the gazette notification - issued on May 5 this year by the state Forestry Department - referring to the state executive council’s decision made in 2000.
In May, there was viral news about the statement on the degazetting of 406.22ha of the Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve in Section U10, Shah Alam, which was allegedly done without a public hearing process in accordance with Section 11 of the Selangor State Forestry Act (EAPN) 1985.
The EAPN was amended by the Selangor government in 2011.
In July, the state Forestry Department clarified that the May 5 gazette notification to degazette the Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve is to complete the delisting process that stopped in 2006.
Environmentalists argued that the state government should have held a public inquiry per the National Forestry Act (Amendment) Enactment 2011.
On Sept 5, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari told the media that the state government will carry out the degazettement of the forest reserve to avoid the risk of legal action by companies with interests in the property. - Mkini
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