CBN officially obtains land lease extension for 60 years, says counsel

The Lady Superior's counsel, Damien Chan when contacted by Bernama, said they received a letter dated May 31, from the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office director, Muhammad Yasir Yahya over the land lease extension.

He said, according to the letter, the land office committee agreed to a 60-year extension to the Lady Superior with a condition that the land could only be used for educational purposes and could not be transferred to other parties without the Federal Territories Land Office's consent.

The letter also stated that CBN needed to settle a fee of RM2,070 for the lease extension within three months from May 31.

"As a result of the approval, we have filed a notice of discontinuance of the judicial review application yesterday," Chan said after the matter came up for case management before High Court senior deputy registrar, Nur Aslamiah Jamil via online proceeding today.

On April 22, the government agreed to extend the land lease for SMK CBN by 60 years upon its expiry on Sept 6 this year.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO), in a statement said the decision to extend the lease was made after considering the contributions made by SMK CBN to the country's education since 1899.

On April 19, the High Court granted leave to the Lady Superior to initiate a judicial review application to challenge the non-renewal of its land lease.

The Lady Superior, as the applicant, filed the judicial review application on April 7, this year naming the Federal Territories Land and Mines director as the sole respondent.

In the application, the Lady Superior said it had written to the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office on Oct 4, 2017 to seek an extension of the land lease but they received a reply on Jan 8, this year via a letter dated Dec 18, 2020, that it would not be renewed.

The applicant was seeking, among others, a certiorari order to quash the decision by the Land and Mines Office in refusing the land lease extension and a mandamus order to compel the Federal Territories Land and Mines director to revoke the land lease non-renewal letter dated Dec 18, 2020.