SIME DARBY PLANTATION BERHAD v Pentadbir Tanah Daerah Hilir Perak

Case Significance

A worked example of assessing market value and injurious affection under the First Schedule to the Land Acquisition Act 1960 for land compulsorily acquired for a high-voltage transmission line, treating market value as a finding of fact guided by comparable transactions.

This High Court decision at Ipoh, Perak concerns compensation for the compulsory acquisition of land, heard as multiple land references together with a government assessor and a private assessor under section 40 of the Land Acquisition Act 1960. The applicant, SD Guthrie Berhad (formerly known as Sime Darby Plantation Berhad), challenged the compensation awarded by the Pentadbir Tanah Daerah Hilir Perak (the District Land Administrator) for five neighbouring plantation lots that had been compulsorily acquired for a 275kV electricity transmission line. The two principal questions were whether the market value assessed under paragraph 2(a) of the First Schedule to the Act should be disturbed, and whether compensation was payable for injurious affection and severance under paragraph 2(d). On market value, the court held that the determination of market value is a finding of fact and that the comparative method, using genuinely comparable transactions, is the safest guide. It examined the comparables put forward by the applicant to show that the land administrator's uniform rate was inadequate, and found them to be materially dissimilar, so that the applicant had not established that the market value should be disturbed. On injurious affection, the court considered whether damage sustained or likely to be sustained by the remaining land was compensable in the reference proceedings, given that the high-voltage transmission corridor (rentis) physically encumbered the retained land and raised concerns associated with electromagnetic fields. The court made consequential orders including that interest run until full settlement, that deposits paid in respect of the references be returned to the applicant, and that the costs of the assessors be fixed at RM500 per sitting for each assessor in each case, borne by the applicant. The judgment is a useful worked example of how the courts assess market value and injurious affection under the First Schedule to the Land Acquisition Act 1960 for land taken for a transmission line.