The court held that the alienation of land post-acquisition does not require reverting to the original owner, and tenancy disputes are to be resolved under private law, not judicial review.

The Factual Background

[1] The applicant's case is as follows.

[2] The applicant was the registered owner of all those pieces of land known as GM 325 Lot 2574 and GM 1429 Lot 414, Mukim Petaling, Kuala Lumpur ("the said Lands").

[3] By way of a Gazette notification dated 1 February 2001 made under s 8 of the Land Acquisition Act 1960 ("LAA"), the said Lands were declared as being needed for the purpose of "Projek Menaiktaraf Jalan Kelang Lama" ("the gazetted purpose").

[4] The acquisition of the said lands ("the 1st impugned decision") was completed on 11 April 2002 when the 2nd respondent, the Land Administrator of the Federal Territory, issued Form K of the LAA. Section 22(1) of the LAA states that the Land Administrator shall take formal possession of any scheduled land by serving upon the occupier thereof or, if he cannot be found, by posting thereon a notice in Form K.

[5] It is not in dispute that 14 acre of the said Lands was used for the gazetted purpose while the remaining part of the same was tenanted out for commercial use as a food court, known as the Kuchai Lama Food court ("Food court").

[6] The applicant, vide a letter dated 10 August 2015, wrote to the 5th respondent, the then Minister of Natural Resources and Environment ("the Minister of Natural Resources"), offering to purchase the remaining part of the said Lands and a neighbouring piece of land. The letter inter alia states as follows:

Oleh yang demikian, setelah 13 tahun berlalu dan mengambilkira situasi semasa lot tanah tersebut, Syarikat kami ingin membuat permohonan semula untuk membeli dan memiliki dua (2) lot tanah Persekutuan iaitu Lot 2574 dan Lot 414 yang telah diambil milik oleh pihak Kerajaan untuk tujuan projek di atas sebagai pemilik asal. Di samping itu, Syarikat kami juga memohon untuk membeli dan memiliki tanah yang terdapat bersebelahan Lot 2574 dan Lot 414 yang berukuran anggaran keluasan 4.5 ekar kesemuanya.

[7] The Secretary General of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, by a letter dated 21 December 2005 to the applicant ("the 21 May 2005 letter"), informed that the Ministry could not consider the application. According to the 21 May 2005 letter ("the 2nd impugned decision"), the said Lands ought to be maintained as Federal Government lands for the purpose of road widening in the future.

[8] Since the offer to purchase could not be proceeded with, the applicant then applied for a tenancy of the said Lands together with the neighbouring lands known then as Lots 31206, 31028, 417, 771 and 416 ("the Tenanted Lands"). Vide a letter dated 6 January 2017. The 1st respondent herein, the Federal Land Commissioner, approved the application ("the Tenancy").

[9] The applicant was offered the Tenancy for three years commencing from 1 March 2017 to 28 February 2020, subject to the terms and conditions set out in the said letter.

[10] The monthly rental for the tenanted Lands was RM71,700.00. The applicant was also required to pay a deposit of RM215,100.00, which the applicant did on 20 February 2017.

The Cancellation Of The Tenancy

[11] Unfortunately, in a letter dated 16 October 2017, the 1st respondent informed the applicant that it was cancelling the Tenancy ("the 3rd impugned decision"). The reason given by the 1st respondent was that the Federal Territory Land Executive Committee ("JKTWP") had approved the alienation of the Tenanted Lands to the 7th respondent, Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur ("DBKL").

[12] The said letter inter alia states as follows:

Adalah d