Lawyer S N Nair, who represented Seputeh MP Teresa Kok and Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman of the Selangor and Federal Territory (FT) of Kuala Lumpur Consumers Association, said justice Azizah Nawawi allowed the judicial review as they had an arguable case.
“However, the court has confined the argument whether DBKL had conducted an open tender in awarding the contract to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan,” Nair said, of the ruling made in chambers.
Azizah has fixed case management on June 13.
Nair said he would now make an application for discovery whether Treasury procedures were followed by DBKL to give the contract to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan.
Last year, there was outcry from motorists when DBKL raised parking charges which were deemed to be exorbitant.
Senior Federal Counsel Mazlifah Ayob said the court disallowed the duo’s application to challenge the hike in parking charges as it was a policy decision by the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur.
On Oct 7, Teresa and Yusof filed a leave application for judicial review as the public was not consulted before the hike.
Both had wanted the court to quash the hike saying it was illegal and irregular.
The applicants also wanted the court to revoke the appointment of Vista Summerose and Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan, to collect the new parking fees.
Nair said Vista Summerose had been removed as party to the action as it is a third party appointed by Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan.
They had earlier named Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, KL Mayor Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz and DBKL as respondents.
In the last hearing, the court only maintained the mayor as respondent.
Kok in her affidavit in support of the application, said the raise was between 100% and 275% and the current fee was between 80 sen and RM3 per hour.
She said the respondent’s act of appointing Vista Summerose and Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan was made unilaterally and arbitrarily and such an act was also against the rule of natural justice and violated the principle of good governance.
Kok said the respondents had also gone against government procurement procedures in awarding the right to Vista Summerose and Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan to collect the parking fees.
Effective July 18 last year, what used to cost motorists 80 sen for the first hour of parking, is now priced at RM2, while the second and subsequent hours will cost RM3.
The areas involved are Bukit Bintang, Bukit Damansara, Sri Hartamas, Desa Hartamas, Solaris Mont Kiara, Taman Tun Dr Ismail and Bangsar.
Rates at DBKL-owned parking lots at business centres outside the city centre, including in Brickfields, Taman Maluri, Cheras, Wangsa Maju and Setapak are also up as well.
Mayor Amin had said the move was not aimed at generating profit but was the “only way” to reduce congestion in the city and encourage carpooling.
He had pointed out that about 50,000 new cars were registered in KL every month and expressed hope that the parking rate increase would lead to at least one million single-occupant vehicle (SOV) drivers, switching to public transport or carpooling to work instead.