Taman Sri Muda residents win suit against govt, others over 2021 floods

On October 6, the Shah Alam High Court scheduled the case management to determine the next hearing date for assessing damages in a lawsuit filed by 50 residents of Taman Sri Muda. These residents successfully won a case against the government and two state agencies for negligence and breach of statutory duty concerning the devastating 2021 floods that claimed 12 lives.

Judicial Commissioner Shoba Rajah ruled that the plaintiffs had established a balance of probabilities against the defendants, the federal government and the Selangor irrigation and drainage department (JPS) and Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) for not exercising reasonable human intervention during the floods. The court dismissed the defense's 'act of God' argument, emphasizing that reasonable human intervention was available.

Furthermore, the court found the National Disaster Management Agency, the meteorological department, and the JPS and MBSA liable for their failures to effectively manage the incident scene, deploy rescue teams, and issue timely warnings, despite their forecast indicating that the thresholds had been met. The residents were represented by lawyers Regine Ng, James Joshua Paulraj, Ahmad Badri Mustaffa, M Gobinath, and P Taneswaran, while Al-Saifi Hashim, Nurul Farhana Khalid, and Liew Horng Bin appeared for the federal government, and Faris Shah Kamarulzaman and Norazalina Hairuddin represented JPS and MBSA respectively.