St Ignatius Church gets order to demolish car park

 

The car park that the church built after it obtained permission from the landowner in 2012. (Joy Appukuttan pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

St Ignatius Church here has been issued a sudden demand to remove a car park it built on land belonging to the state irrigation and drainage department, for which the church said it had obtained permission from the department in 2012.

A notice from the Petaling land and district office dated Oct 29 sighted by FMT claimed that the parking bays were illegally built, an offence under Section 425 of the National Land Code for unlawful occupation of state, reserved or mining land.

It gave the church 14 days to vacate the land.

Lawyer Joy Appukuttan, acting for the church, told FMT that a letter from the department was received in 2012 stating that the department had no objections to the construction of the parking bays.

The small strip of land next to the church compound had been lying idle alongside a river.

The officers from the three government departments and a contractor who handed the notice to the church on Oct 29. (Joy Appukuttan pic)

However, he said, representatives from four parties – the Petaling land and district office, the Petaling Jaya City Council, the Selangor department of irrigation and drainage, and a contractor involved with the land – went to the church on Oct 29 to deliver the notice.

“Prior to this, we had the department’s approval to level the land and use it as our car park.

“This action is bullying the church. Why could they not have set up a dialogue with us over the matter, instead of delivering this notice suddenly?” he said.

Joy said he had reached out to Bandar Utama assemblyman Jamaliah Jamaluddin to set up a meeting between the church and the parties involved in the matter.

When contacted, Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung said he will reach out to the church, while Jay Jay Denis, an aide to Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari also said he will get back to FMT upon checking on the issue. - FMT