Federal Court rules residents association can impose conditions on non-paying members

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court dismissed an appeal by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) seeking to overturn a Court of Appeal decision allowing the Parkville Residents Association (RA) to require non-paying members to operate boom gates themselves, without the assistance of security guards.

A. Surendra Ananth, one of the RA’s lawyers, told Bernama that MBPJ’s appeal was dismissed by a three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim and Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

He said the court also ordered MBPJ to pay RM100,000 costs in its online decision Thursday (April 18).

Surendra said the apex court ruled that the appellate court did not err in applying a 2015 Federal Court ruling in the Au Kean Hoe v Persatuan Penduduk D’Villa Equestrian as a precedent.

He further explained that the court ruled MBPJ's denial of the RA to enforce the condition requiring non-paying members to operate the boom gate themselves as unlawful.

Former Parkville RA chairman Chow Hau Mun filed for a judicial review on behalf of the association, aiming to declare its right to require non-paying residents or non-association members to operate boom gates independently without assistance from security guards.

This followed MBPJ’s rejection on March 30, 2021, of the RA’s application for permission to do so.

In July 2022, the Shah Alam High Court rejected the judicial review, concluding that MBPJ's decision not to allow the RA to impose the condition was lawful, rational, and reasonable.

On April 17, 2023, the RA succeeded in its appeal to the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Court decision.

The Court of Appeal allowed the RA’s judicial review to quash MBPJ’s decision.

In today's proceedings, the RA was also represented by lawyer Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, while Datuk Dr. Gurdial Singh Nijar and Yatiswara Ramachandran appeared for MBPJ. – Bernama