By ADEN NAGRACE| Feb 23, 2010

Court rejects appeal by Sarawak Govt to review decision on land

KUCHING: The Federal Court yesterday dismissed the state government’s application to review its earlier decision to allow native communities of Kuala Nyalau to claim compensation from the state for the loss of sentang and teak trees.

The state had earlier appealed to the Federal Court and on Oct 26, 2009, the court dismissed the appeal and upheld the judgment of the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

In 1987, the government had declared under Section 6(1) of the Sarawak Land Code a native communal reserve of 1,222ha for the exclusive use by the Kadayan, Melanau and Malay communities of Kuala Nyalau, Suai, for agricultural purposes.

The natives formed a joint venture agreement with a non-native company to cultivate the land with sentang and teak trees.

However, the state government took back the native reserve land in 1998 for a proposed smelter plant and replaced the plot with another parcel of land but it did not compensate the natives for the sentang and teak trees planted on the land.

On April 11, 2000, the affected communities sued the state government for loss and damage suffered by them.

Five years later on May 12, 2005, the High Court decided that the natives were entitled to compensation and ordered compensation to be assessed by the Deputy Registrar of the High Court.

The High Court decision prompted the government to appeal to the Court of Appeal. On April 23, 2008, the appellate court heard the appeal and dismissed it.

Dissatisfied with the decision, the government applied under Rules 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court to review the decision of the court’s earlier panel.

When the application came up yesterday, the court dismissed it with costs.

The government was represented by Datuk J.C. Fong and Saferi Ali while Mekanda Singh Sandhu, John Antau, Musa Dinggat and Satinder Singh Sandhu represented the natives.