Bukit Cherakah degazettement: Federal Court postpones NGOs’ leave to appeal hearing

• The decision was delivered after a three-judge panel comprising Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera were informed that the NGOs’ lawyers Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal were unable to attend the hearing.

PUTRAJAYA (July 11): The Federal Court on Thursday postponed the hearing of an application by two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking leave to appeal the dismissal of their application for a judicial review challenging the degazettement of Bukit Cherakah as a forest reserve.

The decision was delivered after a three-judge panel comprising Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera were informed that the NGOs’ lawyers Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal were unable to attend the hearing.

Lawyer B Ambiga Sundrambal, representing Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia (Peka) and Shah Alam Community Forest Society (SACF), informed the panel that Rajesh was on medical leave and Sachpreetraj Singh had to attend to another matter.

The panel was scheduled to hear the application by Peka and SACF, seeking leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision which ruled against their favour.

The NGOs were initially denied leave by the Shah Alam High Court in 2022 to commence a judicial review of the Selangor state government’s decision to degazette 406.22 hectares of Bukit Cherakah.

Their subsequent appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Jan 24 this year, citing that the judicial review application had been filed out of time.

The NGOs then took the matter to the Federal Court, seeking leave to appeal the lower court’s decision.

They claimed it was illegal for the Selangor government to backdate a gazette, stating that the degazettement decision was made on Nov 20, 2000.

They said the gazette was published on May 5, 2022, almost 22 years after the decision to degazette Bukit Cherakah.

In their application for judicial review, the NGOs named the Selangor state government, the Selangor State Executive Council, the State Forestry Department director, and the Petaling Land and Mines Department as respondents.

The other respondents were YCH Development Sdn Bhd, Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS), and Restu Mantap Sdn Bhd.

Assistant state legal advisor Khairul Nizam Abu Bakar appeared for the Selangor state government, the state executive council, the State Forestry Department director, and the Petaling Land and Mines Department.

Meanwhile, the other lawyers were Ng Ka Choon and Low Jiah Yee for YCH Development, Ganapathi Ramasamy for PKNS, and John Wong Yok Hon for Restu Mantap.

Lawyers Kiu Jia Yaw and Abhilaash Subramaniam represented the Malaysian Bar as amicus curiae.

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