Federal Court dismisses bid for leave to appeal HSR case
On Jan 1, 2021, Malaysia and Singapore announced the termination of the 350km high-speed rail project. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA : The Federal Court today dismissed Hatta Sanuri's application for leave to appeal in his attempt to reinstate a lawsuit challenging the cancellation of the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) project.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Zabariah Yusof, Abu Bakar Jais and Hanipah Farikullah unanimously ruled that the legal questions posed failed to meet the threshold under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
Delivering the court's decision, Zabariah held that the matter was interlocutory in nature and did not involve any novel legal issue or question of public importance.
She noted that the issues raised, specifically those relating to locus standi and justiciability, had been conclusively settled in existing case law.
She also said the court viewed frivolous legal claims with seriousness and observed that the questions of law submitted were verbose and lacked precision.
'If the questions were drafted well, then maybe we could ventilate,' said Zabariah in dismissing Hatta's application for leave, with no order as to costs.
This decision brings to an end Hatta's legal challenge against the government, former prime ministers Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin, former economic affairs minister Mustapa Mohamed and former transport minister Wee Ka Siong.
Hatta had sought leave to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision on Jan 16, 2024, which upheld the High Court's ruling that his suit was non-justiciable and disclosed no reasonable cause of action.
Hatta filed the suit on his behalf and on behalf of over 32 million Malaysians allegedly affected by the cancellation of the project on Dec 30, 2022.
In the statement of claim, he sought an order for the court to declare the cancellation of the project null and void, as well as for all the defendants to pay RM1 million in compensation to him and all Malaysians for wrongfully and negligently cancelling the HSR project.
On Jan 1, 2021, Malaysia and Singapore announced the termination of the 350km project after the two countries failed to reach an agreement on changes proposed by Malaysia before the project agreement expired on Dec 31, 2020.
The project was expected to provide direct travel between Malaysia and Singapore, with a travelling time of 90 minutes from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.
Hatta was represented by counsel Mohaji Selamat, while senior federal counsel Donald Joseph Franklin appeared on behalf of the government.
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