PRISTINE POWER SDN. BHD. v Pegawai Kewangan Negeri Selangor

Case Significance

Confirms that mandamus is available to enforce a compulsory-acquisition compensation sum that has been certified under section 33 of the Government Proceedings Act 1956 but remains unpaid, with judgment interest running from the day after the Certificate of Judgment.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam concerns the enforcement, by way of judicial review and mandamus, of a certified sum of compensation that a State authority had failed to pay following a compulsory acquisition of land. The applicant, a company, was the registered proprietor of land in Mukim Bandar Ulu Kelang, Daerah Gombak, that had been the subject of a proposed acquisition declaration gazetted in 2018. Compensation was determined and certified, but the certified sum together with late-payment charges — amounting to RM11,210,235.70 — was not paid. The applicant had obtained a certificate under section 33 of the Government Proceedings Act 1956, the mechanism by which a judgment or award against the Government or a public officer is certified for satisfaction, and it applied for an order of mandamus to compel payment.

A discrete question the court had to resolve was whether the State Financial Officer was the correct respondent against whom the mandamus should issue. The application invoked section 25(2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 read with the schedule, Order 53 of the Rules of Court 2012, the Land Acquisition Act 1960 and the Government Proceedings Act 1956. Having considered the cause papers, the court was satisfied that the applicant was entitled to compel satisfaction of the certified sum.

The court ordered payment of the certified sum together with judgment interest at five per cent per annum calculated from 16 June 2023 — the day after the Certificate of Judgment dated 15 June 2023 — until full payment, dispensed with personal service of the sealed order by allowing service on the respondent's legal adviser, and made no order as to costs. The judgment illustrates that where compensation for a compulsory acquisition has been certified under section 33 of the Government Proceedings Act 1956 and remains unpaid, mandamus is an available remedy to enforce payment against the responsible State financial authority.