The revocation of State land alienation by the State Authority is subject to judicial review and must be exercised within legal constraints, requiring reasons to be provided for such actions.

[1] This has been an appeal by the appellant against the decision of the respondent in respect of the revocation by the latter of the order of alienation of a piece of State land that was previously made in favour of the appellant.

[2] This appeal has pertained to a judicial review application ("the JR application") before the learned High Court Judge by the appellant against the impugned decision of the Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri Selangor ("MMKN") or the State Authority of the Government of Selangor ("SA") whereby the High Court had dismissed the appellant's JR application.

The Factual Background

[3] Apart from the complaint raised by the appellant, the factual matrix of this appeal has not been the subject of much significant dispute between the litigating parties. It would not be remiss on our part to list down the salient facts as outlined in the written submissions of the appellant as they had sufficiently captured the relevant milestones in the long journey that had been undertaken by the appellant, with regard to the land in question.

[4] On 3 February 1993, the appellant submitted an application to MMKN for the alienation of State Land for mixed development. On 26 July 1995, MMKN approved the appellant's application for the alienation of State Land known as Lot A, Kg Melayu Subang Tambahan ("Lot A, KMST") measuring approximately 70 acres for mixed development.

[5] Subsequent to the approval, the appellant made an application to MMKN to convert part of the land use from "Industrial" to "Shop Office and Commercial Complex". The application was allowed. This could be seen in evidence, as per the letter dated 5 August 1996 issued by Pejabat Daerah Tanah Petaling ("PDTP").

[6] By a letter dated 29 April 2005, MMKN reduced the size of the approved alienation from Lot A, KMST to a land measuring approximately 11.572 acres.

[7] It is pertinent to note from both the letters, ie letters dated 26 July 1995 and 29 April 2005 that Form 5A would only be issued after the pre-computation plan had been submitted and approved by the Selangor Town and Country Planning Department ("JPBD").

[8] Following from the letter dated 29 April 2005 issued by PDTP, the appellant had by a letter dated 17 January 2006, inter alia, appealed to the Land Administrator of PDTP to fix the premium for alienation at RM22.00 per square meter and to provide that the express condition of the land use be for "Commercial". PDTP did not entertain the appellant's appeal.

[9] However, a subsequent appeal by the appellant to PDTP for the express condition of the land use to be changed from "mixed development" to one of "Commercial" was successful.

[10] It was again reiterated in PDTP's letter dated 15 November 2007, that Form 5A would only be issued after the pre-computation plan had been submitted to and approved by the PDTP.

[11] The following is the chronology of events that had transpired in relation to the appellant's submission of its pre-computation plan for approval by the PDTP:

22 May 2008: The appellant made another application to PDTP for the issuance of Form 5A. There was no response to this letter.

29 May 2008: The appellant submitted the relevant survey and precomputation plans to PDTP ("the Pre-computation Plans") for the latter's further action to facilitate the issuance of Form 5A.

24 June 2008: PDTP replied to the appellant's letter dated 29 May 2008 and reiterated that the pre-computation plan had to be submitted before Form 5A could be issued.

29 July 2008: The appellant sent a letter to Jabatan Perancangan, Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam ("MBSA"). It is evident from this letter that the Pre-computation Plans have been submitted to MBSA on 24 July 20