High Court freezes Lynas TOL for 10 daysReuters • Sep 25, 12...

High Court freezes Lynas TOL for 10 days

Reuters • Sep 25, 12 2:36PTG
The Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) group has obtained an interim stay against Lynas Advanced Materials Plant’s (Lamp) temporary operating licence (TOL) for 10 days from the Kuantan High Court today.

High Court judge Mariana Yahya granted the interim stay to three Kuantan citizens, comprising of chairperson Tan Bun Teet and two other SMSL members, until Oct 4 so as to hear Lynas’ application to intervene in the two judicial review cases against the TOL.

Counsel for the trio, Gene Anand Verdargon, said that they were seeking an application for stay against the TOL initially, but Lynas, represented by Sunil Abraham, at the same time asked for adjournment of this application to seek intervention in the two judicial reviews.

He also noted that senior federal council Noor Azzah Abdul Aziz, representing the government, had also ask for an adjournment of the application as she needed time to reply to the affidavit filed by the plaintiff.

“We said if they are asking for an adjournment, then we request for an interim stay... And the judge has agreed to that,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted, adding that the application for intervention will be heard on Oct 4.

The group had earlier obtained leave for two judicial review applications from the same judge. One is to challenge the decision of the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) to grant the licence to the rare earth plant in Gebeng.

The second application is to challenge the decision by the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus Ongkili to dismiss the appeal by three Kuantan citizens over the issuance of the licence.