Berjaya Hills, landowners fail to overturn Pahang quit rent revision

The Court of Appeal held that the National Land Code empowers the state authority to determine quit rent rates, while the National Land Council’s role is to formulate national land policy and approve the timing of revisions.PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has dismissed five appeals by Berjaya Hills Resort Bhd and related landowners challenging Pahang's revised quit rent rates, ruling that the National Land Council only needs to approve the state's revision exercise, not the actual rates imposed.Justice Choo Kah Sing, who delivered the unanimous judgment of a three-member bench, said the National Land Code (NLC) empowers the state authority to determine quit rent rates, while the council's role is to formulate national land policy and approve the timing of revisions.The other judges on the bench were Justices Ravinthran Paramaguru and Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin.Berjaya Hills and the proprietors sought judicial review after the Pahang land and mines office substantially increased the quit rent on 330 parcels of land in Bentong with effect from Jan 1, 2020, and later imposed the higher rates retrospectively for 2020, 2021 and 2022 through bills issued in 2023.The High Court dismissed the applications in August last year, prompting the appeals.The landowners argued that the revised rates were unlawful because the council had not approved them, the declaration of the Genting area as "town land" was defective, the revised rates had not been endorsed on the land titles, and amendments to the Pahang Land Rules were made retrospectively.Choo, in the judgment, rejected all four grounds, holding that the council had approved the revision exercise and was not required to approve the quantum of the revised rates.The court also held that the gazettement issue concerning the declaration of town land was a technical defect that was later corrected and did not invalidate the revision exercise.It said the endorsement of the revised quit rent on the land titles was merely an administrative step, while the retrospective amendment to the Pahang Land Rules simply clarified the state authority's original intention that the revised rates apply to existing alienated land.The ruling clarifies that under Section 101(5) of the NLC, the council's approval relates only to the timing of a state's quit rent revision exercise, leaving the determination of the revised rates to the state auth…