A three-member bench, chaired by Chief Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, said the seven legal questions Ong Hock Te posed failed to meet the threshold required under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

An applicant must satisfy the Federal Court that the proposed appeal contains novel legal or constitutional questions of public importance that were raised for the first time.

The top judge, sitting with Justices Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh and Ruzima Ghazali, also ordered Ong to pay RM50,000 in costs to the developer, Kaisar Maxim Sdn Bhd.

On Aug 22, the Court of Appeal reversed a High Court ruling that halted development of the project, situated adjacent to Ong’s land.

The ruling cleared the way for Kaisar to resume work.

Justice Wong Kian Kheong said the High Court had erred in law when staying a development order issued by the Kuala Lumpur Datuk Bandar. He said the order was a nullity as the High Court had no power to grant the stay.

Wong said that while Order 53 Rule 3(5) of the Rules of High Court 2012 permits the High Court to stay proceedings when leave for judicial review is granted, the court has no jurisdiction to stay a development order issued by the mayor pending disposal of the action.

The facts of the case revealed that the mayor had issued the development order in 2017, granting Kaisar permission to develop 1,048 apartment units, priced between RM600,000 and RM1 million.

Development began in 2023.

Ong filed for a judicial review, naming the mayor as the respondent.

Kaisar was allowed to take part in the proceedings as an intervener.

In June last year, the High Court stayed the development order, which the Court of Appeal overturned.

Lawyers Shukor Ahmad, S Selvarajah, Selwyn Vijayarajan Das and Daniel Bock represented Kaisar in the Federal Court.

Lawyer Alliff Benjamin Suhaimi appeared for Ong, while Gayathri Chandrakasan held a watching brief for the mayor.