The deadline was fixed during case management today.

The court also directed Hatta Sanuri, who filed the suit, to file any reply he may have to those defences before March 28.

It also set March 30 for the next case management.

Besides Mahathir and Muhyiddin, Hatta also named former economic affairs minister Mustapa Mohamed, former transport minister Wee Ka Siong, and the government as defendants.

The plaintiff claims Mahathir, who led the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in 2018, was negligent and had committed the tort of misfeasance in public office when postponing the project.

As a result, he says, the government was compelled to pay RM46 million in compensation to its Singaporean counterpart.

Hatta also says Muhyiddin was negligent and had committed the tort of misfeasance in public office when his administration terminated the HSR project on Jan 1, 2021, making the country liable to pay further compensation of RM320 million under a bilateral agreement it entered.

Hatta’s statement of claim says that, following the cancellation, Malaysians suffered a loss of 70,000 potential high-paying jobs, potential returns of RM70 billion, as well as over RM366 million in compensation payable to Singapore.

He said the cancellation also resulted in the loss of foreign investor confidence.

Hatta is seeking a declaration that the cancellation of the project is null and void.

He is also asking for a declaration that the defendants had committed the tort of misfeasance in public office and for restitution of RM366 million by the defendants, as well as damages and compensation of RM1 million to each citizen over the delay in constructing the HSR.

Malaysia and Singapore first inked a bilateral agreement on the project on Dec 13, 2016.

The project was terminated on Jan 1, 2021 after several delays.

It involved the development of a HSR line spanning 350km, which would see travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore shortened to a mere 90 minutes.