Power to decide land acquisition compensation awarded to judges: Federal Court

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has ruled that a provision in the Land Acquisition Act 1960 which gives two assessors the right to decide on compensation goes against the Federal Constitution.
The landmark ruling according to Federal Court judge Tan Sri Zainun Ali was due to Section 40 (A) of the Act which has a bearing on judicial powers.
Stating that only constitutionally appointed judges could make a decision on compensation, Zainun said Section 40 (A) of the Act is ultra vires to Article 121 of the Federal Constitution on judicial powers and must be struck down.
"This provision ignores the role of judges. Compensation should be decided by a judge and no others," she said when delivering the judgement at the Palace of justice, here, today.
In allowing the appeal by a developer, Zainun said a judge could disagree with the assessors in deciding appropriate compensation.
The unanimous decision for two cases simultaneously was made by a five-man bench led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Zulkelfi Ahmad Makinudin, Tan Sri Hasan Lah, Tan Sri Abu Samah Nordin, Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim and Zainun.
In the first case, Semenyih Jaya Sdn Bhd had filed a suit against the Hulu Langat District Land Administrator over low compensation offered to the developer after its land was acquired for the construction of a highway in Kajang in 1998.
The second case involves a similar appeal by land owners Amitabha Guha and Parul Rani Paul against the same land administrator.
Stating that the ruling only applies to pending and future cases, Zainun said the sanctity of judicial power is preserved when the single judge who sat with the assessors is not bound by their opinion in arriving at a decision.
As such, she said appropriate compensation by the judge acts also as a safeguard entrenched in the constitution, and must be based on market value at that time.
The bench then ordered compensation in both cases to be forwarded before a High Court judge who could consider the opinion of the assessors but would be independent in making his ruling.
In the appeal brought by Semenyih Jaya, the developer was in the midst of building 57 factory lots when the land was acquired, but during an inquiry, it was only awarded RM20.8 million without taking into account the loss of profits.
Semenyih Jaya had said that RM45 million would be a fair amount.
Semenyih Jaya's matter was referred to the High Court where two assessors sat with the judge and the developer only obtained an additional RM160,000 for "injurious affection" while other claims were not taken into consideration.
In 2013, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision on the grounds that the quantum of compensation could not be appealed again.
Lawyer Datuk Cyrus Das appeared for Semenyih Jaya while Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan represented Amitabha and Parul.