Saturday August 26, 2006
Court grants reprieve to Kangar council
By RAPHAEL WONG
PUTRAJAYA: The Kangar Municipal Council, which is facing the prospect of having all its property publicly auctioned off on Monday, can momentarily breathe a sigh of relief.
The Federal Court granted the council yesterday an interim stay of execution against a High Court judgment for the property auction after the council failed to pay RM4.2mil to a company for wrongful termination of contract.
The interim stay was granted by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum together with Federal Court judges Justices S. Augustine Paul and Hashim Mohd Yusoff pending the hearing of the stay application on Sept 11.
Counsel Stanley Sinappan's last-minute attempt to obtain a stay of execution at the Court of Appeal yesterday morning proved futile after it dismissed the application, saying that the council failed to indicate in its affidavit that it would be in financial difficulties if it paid the RM4.2mil damages to Sonati Development Corporation Sdn Bhd.
However, at 4pm, the Federal Court heard the council's application for leave to appeal against an earlier Court of Appeal decision on July 31 against the High Court's finding of liability for Sonati.
During submissions, Sinappan urged the court to invoke its inherent power under Section 97 of the Courts of Judicature Act to suspend the auction until the hearing of the stay application on a later date.
He said that if an interim stay was not granted, the public auction would commence on Monday and that would bring the sole municipal council in Perlis to a standstill.
However, counsel for Sonati, Murali Achan, who opposed the stay application, said the council could have avoided such a consequence if it paid up the judgment sum.
Justice Malanjum interjected: “Mr Murali, you have to think of public interest. What about the poor people of Perlis?”
On Aug 15, the Kangar High Court ordered the council building to be sealed following its failure to pay Sonati RM6.4mil for the wrongful termination of a contract for a housing project.
Sonati obtained the order by way of a writ of seizure and sale after several attempts to recover the amount failed.
On Feb 4 last year, the High Court found the council liable and ordered the senior assistant registrar to assess the damages.
On June 1 this year, the senior assistant registrar ordered the council to pay the company RM4.2mil in addition to interests and costs. The current amount inclusive of interest and cost is RM6.4mil.
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