33 developers face legal action for defying tribunal
15/02/2004 Daily Express
 
Kuala Lumpur: Thirty-three developers will be in contempt of the law if they fail to pay the RM1.278 million compensation awarded to 104 claims by the Homebuyers Claims Tribunal, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.

The failure to comply with the tribunals decision is an offence under Section 16AD of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) (Amendment Act) 2002, he said.

Under this Act, the developers face a fine of up to RM5,000 or a maximum of two years imprisonment, or both, upon conviction. If the offence continues, they face a further fine of not more than RM1,000 for each day of the offence committed.

Ong told reporters this after presenting appointment letters to five tribunal members here Saturday.

The five are Haini Hassan, who is the tribunals Deputy President, as well as Zamani Ibrahim, Jayalakshmi Ramachandaran S.V. Aiyer, Ng Seng Kiok, and Asmadi Hussein.

Another newly-appointed tribunal member, Wong Cheng Kiat, did not attend the function.

Ong said the developers would be issued notices of the impending legal action by the Ministrys Enforcement and Monitoring Division if they failed to comply with the tribunals decision.

He said most of the cases involved housing developers in the Klang Valley.

Ong said the developers reluctance in paying the awards could be due to the High Courts decision last Sept 4 that the tribunal did not have the authority to hear cases involving agreements signed before Dec 1, 2002.

However, this was overturned by the Court of Appeal last Dec 18 and all awards made by the Homebuyers Tribunal were reinstated, said Ong.

He said the amount was only 13 per cent of the RM4.333 million compensation which must be paid by 58 developers, awarded by the tribunal since it was set up early last year.

Ong said as of Friday, the tribunal received 4,060 claims but only disposed off 1,138 cases as it temporarily halted hearing the cases due to last Septembers High Court decision.

However, the tribunal had resumed hearing cases since the first week of this month.

In the past two days, the tribunal heard 158 cases, disposing off 144 cases and has yet to decide on 14 others due to reasons like the parties making claims failing to attend the hearings, he said.

Ong expressed confidence that the remaining cases would be dealt with as soon as possible.

He said the Ministry planned to appoint more members of the tribunal to enable it to preside over hearings held outside Kuala Lumpur. - Bernama