Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam
About Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam
Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam appears as counsel of record in 5 reported Malaysia judgments (2025). These were heard before MYHC (3) and MYFC (2).
On the court record
Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam's reported practice is unusually broad, spanning land-acquisition compensation, personal-injury appeals, construction disputes and serious criminal defence, and it moves between the High Court and the Federal Court.
A distinct strand is land-acquisition work. He acted for the applicant in a land reference ("Rujukan Tanah" — the court process for determining compensation on a compulsory acquisition) arising from land taken for the East Coast Rail Link project. The claim sought compensation for sub-surface land and for injurious affection; the court maintained a nominal award of RM1,000 and rejected the injurious-affection claim for want of proof.
He also appears in personal-injury litigation. In a road-accident appeal on both liability and quantum, the Sessions Court had fixed liability entirely on the defendant; on appeal the apportionment was varied to fifty per cent against the plaintiff and fifty per cent against the defendant, with the assessed damages maintained on that revised basis.
His construction work includes a full-trial building-contract dispute in which, in the absence of a written agreement, both the plaintiff's claim and the first defendant's counterclaim failed for want of proof on the balance of probabilities.
Most strikingly, he appears at the Federal Court in criminal defence, acting for the accused in appeals concerning the elements of "seksyen 300(c) Kanun Keseksaan" (section 300(c) of the Penal Code). The central question was whether the injury inflicted was, in the court's words, "mencukupi pada lazimnya menyebabkan kematian" (sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death), and where the line falls with the lesser offence under "seksyen 304(a)" (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), including the ingredient of common intention. Across these matters he acts for applicants, appellants and accused persons, and the corpus records him equally at home in civil compensation work and in apex-court criminal appeals, moving between judgments delivered in Bahasa Malaysia in the land and criminal matters and English-language civil work with the same facility.
How many cases has Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam appeared in?
Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam appears as counsel of record in 5 reported Malaysia judgments (2025).
Which courts does Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam appear in?
Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam appears before MYHC (3) and MYFC (2).
What areas of law does Dato' Sri M. Ramachelvam cover in these decisions?
His reported matters range widely: land-acquisition compensation through a land reference ("Rujukan Tanah") for the East Coast Rail Link project, a road-accident appeal on liability and quantum, a construction contract dispute, and criminal defence at the Federal Court on charges under the Penal Code.
What was the criminal appeal at the Federal Court about?
It concerned the elements of "seksyen 300(c) Kanun Keseksaan" (section 300(c) of the Penal Code) — in particular whether the injury inflicted was "mencukupi pada lazimnya menyebabkan kematian" (sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death) — and the boundary with the lesser offence under "seksyen 304(a)" (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). He acted for the accused.
What happened in the road-accident appeal?
The Sessions Court had found the defendant wholly liable. On appeal the liability was re-apportioned to fifty per cent against the plaintiff and fifty per cent against the defendant, and the quantum of damages already assessed was maintained on that revised fifty-fifty basis.