The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today struck out a civil suit brought by 711 water consumers against the Selangor government and two others over not receiving free water under a state government scheme.   

A three-member panel led by Zaharah Ibrahim allowed the appeal brought by the Selangor government, Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) to strike out the civil suit.

The panel, also comprising Justices Anantham Kasinater and Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, did not make any order on legal costs.

The Selangor government, Abdul Khalid and Syabas were appealing against a High Court’s decision on Feb 4, this year in refusing to allow their application to strike out the suit.

The consumers who are all Shah Alam residents, filed the suit on Sept 11, last year seeking more than RM400,000 in compensation for not receiving subsidised water.

In their statement of claim, they claimed that the Selangor government had promised domestic consumers 20 cubic metres of free water monthly during the 2008 general election campaign.

Based on the manifesto, they claimed that each domestic consumer with Syabas was eligible for a monthly subsidy of RM11.40 and although the state government had implemented the Free Water Scheme on June 1, 2008, they had not received the subsidy.

They further claimed that Abdul Khalid later said that those using bulk meters were not eligible for the scheme.

They sought RM405,270 from the state government and/or Syabas or an alternative compensation of RM11.40 for 20 cubic metres of free water from June 2008 to August 2012.

They also sought a mandatory injunction for Syabas to issue a water bill with the promised rebate, four per cent interest per annum until the full settlement of the same and other relief or remedy deemed fit by the court.  

The consumers were represented by counsel T Geetha while counsel Edmund Bon represented the Selangor government and Abdul Khalid. Counsel Gopal Sreenevasan represented Syabas.

- Bernama