KUCHING: The High Court in Miri on Wednesday dismissed an application by Dr Michael Teo Yu Keng and some owners of shophouses along Jalan Sri Dagang, Miri for an order to stop Pantai Bayu Indah Sdn Bhd from deleting or removing car parking lots along the said road.
Dr Teo, who is Miri MP, and the other shophouse owners had commenced action to quash the decision to remove the car parks and to declare that the removal of the car parks illegal and ultra vires to the Local Authorities Ordinance, 1996.
Named as Respondents are the Miri City Council (MCC), The Director of Lands & Surveys, the chairman of the State Planning Authority (SPA), the Government of Sarawak and Pantai Bayu Indah Sdn Bhd (PBI).
SPA explained that the decision not to have car parks along Jalan Sri Dagang which was to be a dual carriage way access to the Marina Park, was made in the 1990s when planning and development approvals were granted for the Miri Waterfront Commercial Development and the Marina Park projects.
MCC with the approval of the Lands and Surveys Department had permitted temporary car parking on the said road. It is a planning policy not to have car parking by busy thoroughfares in the interest of public safety and not to impede the traffic flow.
Car parking for the Miri Waterfront Commercial Centre was decided by SPA to be provided through the developer constructing a multi storey car park and having parking lots on service roads within that project area.
The government also contends it is trite law that the Courts should not adjudicate on planning decisions on their merits and should only review such decisions in very exceptional cases.
In this case, the Government argued that the applicants do not have any ownership or proprietary rights to the car parks on the said road, and their objection to their deletion is on the basis that inconvenience would be caused to them, their patients, customers and guests.
There is no claim or allegation that the removal of the car parks had caused them any damage or monetary loss.
Hence, the Government submits there is no violation of the Applicant’s property or constitutional rights, and there is no justification for the Court’s intervention.
The Applicants want work of the widening of Jalan Sri Dagang by PBI to be stopped until the Court finally decides on whether the decision to remove the car parks should be quashed.
Their application for the stop order was dismissed with costs of RM4,000 to the respondents. The earlier exparte injunction obtained by the applicants to restrain PBI from carrying out works on Jalan Sri Dagang had lapsed on Oct 9 and not extended by the Court.