Court allows Syabas’ appeal to amend statement of claim

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PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here yesterday allowed the appeal brought by Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) to amend its statement of claim pertaining to its civil suit against the Selangor government over water tariff adjustment.

A five-member panel led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif unanimously reversed the Court of Appeal’s decision which had denied the water concessionaire to amend its statement of claim to include two alternative rates for calculating the quantum of compensation.

The panel, also comprising Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Datuk Hashim Yusoff, Datuk Ahmad Maarop and Datuk Zainun Ali set aside the Court of Appeal’s decision and reinstated the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

The High Court had on May 29, last year, granted Syabas’s application to have its statement of claim amended to include the alternative rates.

Justice Raus said the Federal Court was in the same view with the High Court that amending the statement of claim would not change the character of the civil suit.

The panel ordered the Selangor government to pay RM20,000 in legal costs to Syabas and the Malaysian government which is the third party in the suit, was ordered to pay RM10,000 in legal costs to Syabas. The suit has been fixed for trial at the Kuala Lumpur High Court from July 1 to 4 and from July 8 to 10.

On Nov 10, 2011, Syabas filed a civil suit, naming the Selangor government as defendant. Subsequently, the state government brought the federal government as third party in the suit.

The company is seeking that the Selangor government pay RM1.05 billion in water tariff adjustment.

In its statement of claim, Syabas stated that the calculation of the quantum of compensation it sought should be based on the RM1.89 per cubic metre formula.

Syabas later filed an application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to amend its statement of claim to include two other rates – RM1.82 and RM1.80 per cubic metre – as measurement for compensation.

In its statement of claim, Syabas said that based on the concession agreement dated Dec 15, 2004 signed by the company, the Malaysian government and Selangor government, it was given a 30-year concession to buy treated water from water treatment operators and to supply the treated water to the distribution areas, in accordance with the terms spelt out in the agreement.

The company said that through a letter dated March 31, 2008, it sent a document to the Selangor government to support its application to increase the gazetted tariff of RM1.39 per cubic metre to a new agreed tariff of RM1.89 per cubic metre for the third operations period from Jan 1, 2009 to Dec 31, last year.

Syabas claimed that the Selangor government had failed to inform the company whether it had agreed to increase the gazetted tariff to the agreed tariff.

The company also claimed that it had sent several letters to the Selangor government to claim compensation, in line with the concession agreement but failed to get any satisfactory reply from the state government.

In an affidavit-in-reply, the Selangor government, through the state secretary at that time, Datuk Ramli Mahmud, said the suit brought by Syabas was an abuse of the court process, stating that the water industry was undergoing restructuring as required under the Water Services Industry Act 2006 and the National Water Services Commission Act.

On Oct 23, last year, the Federal Court granted Syabas’s application for leave to appeal.

Syabas was represented by lawyer Datuk Harpal Singh Grewal and the Selangor government by lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, while senior federal counsel Mohd Radhi Abas represented the Malaysian government. — Bernama