The Ipoh High Court has allowed the leave applications of two of the 11 defendants in a civil suit over the collapse of the Kuala Dipang suspension bridge in Kampar, Perak, last October.

Eighth defendant Syarikat GS Synergy Sdn Bhd and ninth defendant Syarikat CWL Enterprise are now allowed to file their memorandum of defence, although both are out of time in submitting the document.    

Senior Assistant Registrar Adibah Husna Zainal Abidin made the decision in chambers today without assigning a reason, and fixed Aug 16 for mention of the case.

NONE Three schoolgirls drowned when the suspension bridge collapsed under the weight of 22 students, who were using it to cross a swift-flowing Kampar River on the night of Oct 26 last year.

They were among 294 students attending a four-day ‘1Malaysia camp’.

Lawyer Mohd Sany Abdul Rahman is representing the three victims - N Dina Dewa and M Davadharshini, both 11, of SJK(T) Mambang Diawan in Batu Gajah, and V Diviyasari,12, of SJK(T) Gopeng - in a law suit filed by their parents.

NONE Sany (left) said nine defendants had filed their memorandum of appearance and defence within the stipulated time of 12 days and 14 days respectively from the writ summons dated Nov 20, 2009. The defendants received this on Jan 19, 2010.

However, the remaining two only filed their memorandum of appearance on March 30 and June 3 respectively and their memorandum of defence on June 11 and June 30 respectively.

When the case came up for hearing on June 11, lawyers for the victims objected verbally to the out-of-time memorandum of appearance.

The Ipoh High Court then told both defendants to prepare their leave applications which were heard today.

‘Decision on merit’

Sany later explained that the courts sometimes allow leave applications based on merit.

The other defendants are the principals of SJK(T) Mambang Diawan, Batu Gajah, and SJK(T) Gopeng; the Kinta Selatan district education officer; Perak education director; Kampar district council chairperson; state Public Works Department director; Camp 1Malaysia Kuala Dipang commandant; the Education Ministry and the federal government.

NONE The victims are represented by their fathers T Nathan, K Mageswaran and K Vasuthavan, who also want the Ipoh High Court to compel the government to reveal the findings of a probe into the bridge collapse.

Last December, a special committee set up to investigate the incident had blamed the weak foundation for the collapse of the suspension bridge.