Temporary suspension order extended

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today granted an extension on the temporary suspension order on construction work and logging at the Ampang Forest Reserve for the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE).
Counsel Kwan Will Sen, representing three environmental organisations, said the temporary suspension order was extended until the court heard their application for a permanent suspension order.
Kwan said the court set June 7 to hear the permanent suspension order application.
He told this to reporters after the proceedings in the chambers of High Court senior deputy registrar Nor Hasniah Ab Razak.
"The counsel for the Selangor government and the Selangor Forestry Department were not present.
"However, we have already submitted the documents on the temporary suspension order issued on May 11 to them on Monday," he said.
Also present was Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) legal adviser Siti Aishah Salim.
On May 11, three organisations succeeded in obtaining the temporary suspension order from High Court Judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah against construction work and logging in the Ampang Forest Reserve.
The three organisations are Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), Treat Every Environment Special Sdn Bhd and the Association for the Protection of Natural Heritage of Malaysia (Peka), as applicants one to three.
In their judicial review application, the organisations named the Selangor government, Selangor Forestry Department and Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) as the first to third respondents.
In their application filed in April, they had sought a certiorari order to cancel the decision of the Forestry Department to close the forest reserve which is the main access to members of the public to get into the forest reserve to give way to the construction work on the EKVE.
They also applied for a declaration that approval, permit and licence given by the three respondents for logging and construction for the EKVE project located in Ampang Forest Reserve be cancelled as it was illegal and against the law.
The applicants said the Ampang forest reserve was still gazetted as a permanent forest reserve and felling of trees and logging was against the law.
They said any development activities would also affect the water supply for the people in the area as well as threaten the biological diversity and ecosystem.
The EKVE project is a proposed tolled highway connecting Bandar Sungai Long to Ukay Perdana across the Ampang Forest Reserve. — Bernama