High Court judge Roslan Mat Nor held that the long-running dispute could no longer be delayed, maintaining the assessment hearing fixed for April.
Roslan ruled that while the plaintiff had said it required additional documents to prepare a comprehensive valuation report, any further adjournment would be unjust to both parties.
He noted the defendant’s objection to the application, which argued that further delay would result in higher interest payments, even though the delay was not caused by the defendant.
“In the interest of justice to both parties, and taking into account the protracted history of the case arising from various court processes and orders, the court can no longer adjourn the matter and accordingly dismisses the application to postpone the hearing,” he said.
The court also fixed March 16 for case management.
Earlier, Semantan’s counsel Janet Chai said the documents sought were related to matters dating back about 70 years. “They are definitely not readily available, and therefore time will be taken for any searches to be done,” she said.
Chai added that the company was not attempting to delay proceedings but required reasonable time as a private entity with no access to or control over the records.
The documents sought include the land acquisition and survey plans, which Semantan said were necessary to determine compensation under the Land Acquisition Act 1960.
Semantan’s legal battle began in 2003, when it sued the government, claiming that its 106-hectare parcel of land in the city, known as the Duta Enclave, had been unlawfully acquired since 1956.
The land under dispute, located in the prime Jalan Duta area, now houses several government buildings, including the National Hockey Stadium, the National Archives, the Kuala Lumpur shariah court, the Inland Revenue Board and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Academy.
In 2009, the High Court ruled in Semantan’s favour, but subsequent appellate decisions held that the company was not entitled to the land title.
On June 24, 2025, the Court of Appeal ruled that Semantan was instead entitled to adequate compensation, to be assessed based on the land’s value in 1956 when the government took possession of it, and ordered an assessment of mesne profits.
On Nov 13 last year, the Federal Court dismissed Semantan’s application for leave to appeal, leaving the Court of Appeal’s decision in force and paving the way for the assessment proceedings now before the High Court.
Senior federal counsel Nur Zul Izzati Zulkipli appeared for the government.