High Court judge Noorin Badaruddin had on April 14 handed down the ruling despite senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly’s submission that the dispute was merely contractual in nature and, therefore, not susceptible to judicial review.

In light of that ruling, transport minister Wee Ka Siong is expected to justify under oath the legality of his decision to prevent it from being quashed by the High Court.

Dhaya Maju-LTAT is challenging Wee’s decision on grounds that the minister had acted in bad faith, irrationally and unreasonably, and with an improper motive when invoking his power to terminate its contract.

Previously, in the Dewan Rakyat, Wee denied the allegations made against him on the project.

At the hearing two weeks ago, the contractor argued that Wee’s decision was tainted by bad faith as it was made in retaliation after the minister’s request that the project be subcontracted to two China corporations was declined.

The court was told that Wee then called for Dhaya Maju-LTAT to submit a revised costing for the project, which the contractor claimed was duly given. Wee, however, did not respond on the costing.

Instead, on Aug 28, Wee in a statement said the Cabinet decided that Dhaya Maju-LTAT’s contract would be terminated allegedly because the project was “overpriced” and that the project would be retendered via “open tender”. According to Wee, Opus Consultants had valued the project at RM3.398 billion.

Wee notified the contractor of the decision in a letter dated Sept 23, adding that the decision had been made in the country’s interest.

Dhaya Maju-LTAT contended before the High Court that it had been denied natural justice as it was not given the opportunity to be heard on the Opus report and had not been consulted prior to being terminated.

The contractor further submitted that Wee’s decision was irrational and unreasonable since it was made in disregard of a prior settlement agreement on the same subject matter.

The court was told that in October 2018, shortly after it took over the reins of government, the Pakatan Harapan administration cancelled a RM5.2 billion award handed out by the preceding Barisan Nasional government.

The ensuing dispute culminated in a settlement agreement between the government and the contractor for a reduced contract sum of RM4.475 billion, which the current Perikatan Nasional-led government again cancelled.

Dhaya Maju-LTAT also argued that the minister had failed to consider various other factors when making the decision, including its vast experience, mammoth investment into the venture, and the impact the termination would have on its 1,512 employees as well as on the 261 suppliers for the project.

The High Court is expected to grant the government time to address the contractor’s allegations via affidavits in reply when the case is called up for case management tomorrow.