The compensation for land acquired under the Land Acquisition Act must disregard any value of illegal constructions on such land.

A. Introduction

[1] In its originating summons (Encl 1), the Plaintiff had sought for the following reliefs:

(i) leave to set aside the Order of the Shah Alam High Court dated 2 May 2019 ("the Order") in Rujukan Tanah No BA-15-207-07/2018 ("LR 207") in respect of the scheduled land;

(ii) to set aside the Order in LR 207;

(iii) for all action, execution or any other legal process connected with the Order be stayed pending the disposal of the Plaintiff's application;

(iv) that LR 207 be consolidated with Rujukan Tanah No BA-12-14-03/2020 ("LR 14") and be continued as one action, or LR 207 be heard together with LR 14;

(v) parties to exchange cause papers in LR 207 and LR 14 (including but not limited to Valuation Reports and Rebuttal Reports) within 14 days from the date of this order or at a time order by this Court.

[2] The land, which is the subject matter of this originating summons, is held under Hakmilik GM19917, Lot No 140880 (910), Mukim Klang, Daerah Klang, Negeri Selangor measuring 9120 square meters ("the Land").

[3] Approximately 4340 square meters of the Land ("the scheduled land") was acquired in 2017 for the "Projek Lebuhraya Persisiran Pantai Barat (LPB) Daerah Klang, Selangor Darul Ehsan"("West Coast Expressway") pursuant to the Land Acquisition Act 1960 .

[4] The Plaintiff is the concessionaire for the construction of the West Coast Expressway. It was awarded the concession by the Malaysian Government and the Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia.

[5] The 1st Defendant was the previous owner of the Land.

[6] The 2nd Defendant is the Land Administrator.

[7] As stated in Borang H, the 1st Defendant was paid compensation by the 2nd Defendant in the sum of RM3,116,227.00 for the scheduled land. The amount of compensation was made out of the value of the scheduled land, the value of two factories constructed on the scheduled land and other structures, a TNB substation and loss of earnings from the rental of both factories.

[8] The 2nd Defendant also awarded compensation to the tenants of the factories, Phima Enterprise Sdn Bhd and Fukar Sdn Bhd The amount of compensation awarded to the tenants were RM1,098,247.90 and RM1,000,931.05 respectively.

[9] By the Order in LR 207, the Shah Alam High Court ordered the Plaintiff to pay additional compensation in the sum of RM497,510.00 to the 1st Defendant. The 2nd Defendant stated that it had paid the 1st Defendant the additional compensation online through EFT on 4 February 2021.

[10] After considering the application, the affidavits of the respective parties and the submissions of both the Plaintiff's and the Defendants' counsels, this Court allowed the Plaintiff's application in prayers 1, 2, and 4 of encl 1: whereby, leave was granted to set aside the Order made by the Shah Alam High Court in LR 207 and the said Order was set aside; the land reference in LR 207 was ordered to be heard together with LR 14. There was no order made as to costs.

[11] The full reasons for the decision and the orders made are set out in this Judgment.

B. The Plaintiff's Case

[12] The Plaintiff's case is that the Court Order in LR 207 was inconsistent with the Land Acquisition Act 1960 (" LAA ") that the award by the 2nd Defendant and the Order in LR 207 included compensation for the 1st Defendant as owner of two factories built on the land and for the tenants of both factories.

[13] The Plaintiff contends that the factories are illegal buildings as they were built in contravention of the express condition of the Land.

[14] The