Mahadev Shankar JCA:

[1] I struck this action out on the ground that the statement of claim did not disclose a reasonable cause of action and also on the ground that it was an abuse of the process of this Court. My reasons now follow.

[2] The first three defendants have their dwelling houses in Jalan 5/60, Petaling Jaya. The next three live in Jalan 5/54. The seventh lives in Jalan 5/42. They are collectively referred to as "the defendants". Their houses are located in close proximity to the Bukit Gasing Ridge. A susbtantial portion of Bukit Gasing was designated a Green Belt area.

[3] The concern of the defendants to preserve the environmental integrity of the area was well known to the Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya (the MPPJ). In September 1990 when an unidentified developer commenced survey work in the area they alerted the MPPJ. The Town Planner James Fredericks visited the area with some of his officers and then gave a public assurance that development projects in the green belt area will not be approved. Similar assurances were given by the Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Soong Siew Hoong, and the State Assemblyman Encik Teong Shyan Chuyan in October 1990 and early 1991.

[4] Despite these assurances sometime in February 1991 the defendants began to notice an invasion of heavy lorries carrying earth moving equipment going up the hill past their houses and coming down with loads of earth. This daily activity led them to suspect that some large scale development was being undertaken. They did not know then that the MPPJ had already approved the project on 10 December 1990.

[5] On 28 February 1991 the first three defendants wrote a four-page letter to the President of the MPPJ reporting these activities of the developer and protesting against this proposed development. The letter is very detailed and contained a number of very serious criticisms about the environmental impact this development would have if it was permitted to continue. Seventeen other defendants who lived in the immediate vicinity also signed their names in support of this letter. The MPPJ chose not to reply this letter.

[6] The residents pursued the matter and were able to meet the MPPJ President, Fredericks the Town Planner, Patrick Gan the Chief Engineer and Kamarul Baharin the MPPJ secretary. The defendants' account of what transpired at this meeting has not been seriously contradicted by those MPPJ officials. In effect they were presented with a fait accompli. The President is reported to have said:

The project is already approved and there is nothing that can be done now. You are at least luckier than the s 16 people. You must know the people behind this project. Our hands are tied.

[7] As if these ominous words were not enough, when the President was asked why the defendants were not notified of the approval or the intention to approve, the President did not reply, nor did he identify the people behind the project who tied the hands of the MPPJ.

[8] The first defendant specifically asked for a formal reply to their letter of 28 February 1991. No reply was forthcoming. On 18 April 1991 the Petaling Jaya Peoples' Association wrote to the President asking for the following documents and information:

(1) Draft Local Plan (Current and Previous)

(2) Draft Structure Plan (Current and Previous)

(3) Local Plan (Current and Previous)

(4) Structure Plan (Current and Previous)

(5) Application for Planning Permission

(6) Approval for Planning Permission

(7) Letters to defendants regarding development

(8) Surveys, studies and memorandum regarding factors taken into account in giving planning permission

(9) Traffic dispersal studies

(10) Any other relevant documents

[9] Again there was no reply. Meanwhile the "development" continued with its daily concomitant activities. The defendants had become painfully aware that their environment was now under threat. They felt aggrieved that the MPPJ had not given them a reasonable opportunity of being heard before the project was app