High Court finds Putrajaya, Selangor authorities liable for Taman Sri Muda flood devastation

The High Court in Shah Alam has held the Malaysian government liable for damages from the 2021 floods in Taman Sri Muda, citing negligence in disaster management and failure to respond effectively.

Judicial Commissioner Shoba Rajah Dorai Rajah ruled that both federal and local agencies, including NADMA and METMalaysia, did not fulfill their disaster-management duties, with operational lapses further exacerbating the crisis.

The court dismissed the "act of God" defense, highlighting that reasonable intervention could have mitigated the disaster.

The case will undergo further management on October 6 to assess damages owed to the affected residents.

SHAH ALAM, Sept 29 — The High Court has found the Malaysian government liable for damages caused by the catastrophic 2021 floods that devastated Taman Sri Muda in Shah Alam, citing a failure to promptly escalate disaster response and maintain effective mitigation systems.

Judicial Commissioner Shoba Rajah Dorai Rajah allowed the lawsuit filed by 50 residents, ruling that they had proven their claims of negligence and breach of duty by the defendants.

The respondents included the government of Malaysia, the director-general of the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions), the director-general of the Malaysian Meteorological Department (METMalaysia), and the minister of environment and water.

The court also found the director-general of the Selangor Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) and the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) jointly liable with the federal government.

“The court therefore holds that the plaintiffs have established a foreseeable duty of care arising from the defendants’ operational functions and disaster-management responsibilities,” Shoba said.

The court rejected the defendants’ attempt to use an “act of God” defence, ruling it inapplicable when reasonable human intervention could have mitigated the disaster.

“Once an agency undertakes meteorological monitoring and national rescue operations, it is required to exercise reasonable competence in carrying out those functions.

“The defence based on unforeseeability is therefore limited to circumstances in which no reasonable human intervention could have prevented or mitigated the consequences,” she said.

The ruling noted that while technical data confirmed the unprecedented rainfall on December 18, 2021, the state possessed the means to detect the severity of the event but failed to translate that data into an actionable plan to protect citizens.

Consequently, the court accepted that liability for the operational failures of Nadma and METMalaysia rested with the federal government.

“Nadma failed to escalate the disaster response, maintain a Disaster Operations Control Centre (PKOB) and deploy the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) unit effectively (which affected the timely provision of rescue assistance).

“METMalaysia failed to issue timely warnings at the appropriate danger category despite its forecast activity benchmarks,” she said.

The court identified a systemic collapse in disaster management, including the lack of public awareness programmes in Taman Sri Muda despite its known status as a flood-prone area, and a failure to identify the correct disaster tier, which delayed critical intervention.

Bureaucratic failures further compounded the crisis, with delays in transmitting information from district to state levels and a lack of appointed liaison officers to coordinate the response. This left search-and-rescue efforts largely to non-governmental organisations and local community members.

Regarding DID Selangor, Shoba ruled that the agency could not avoid liability simply because rainfall exceeded infrastructure benchmarks.

“Once the assets were constructed and placed into operation, DID assumed a continuing duty to maintain, upgrade and operate them with reasonable competence.

“The defence that the capacity of the infrastructure had been exceeded is therefore insufficient where operational failures have compounded the problem,” she said.

Similarly, MBSA was found unable to evade its statutory obligations by claiming that retention ponds and primary infrastructure belonged to DID. The court held that ownership did not negate MBSA’s independent duty under street, drainage, and building legislation to maintain the public drainage system within its jurisdiction.

The court fixed October 6 for case management to determine a hearing date for the assessment of damages.

The 50 residents were represented by James Joshua Paulra, Regine Ng, and Ahmad Badri. Senior federal counsels Mohammad Al-Saifi Hashim, Nurul Farhana Khalid, and Liew Horng Bin appeared for the federal government, while state legal counsel Faris Shah Kamarulzaman and lawyer Norazalina Hairuddin appeared for JPS Selangor and MBSA respectively.

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沙阿南高等法院裁定马来西亚政府应对2021年斯里慕达花园洪灾造成的损失承担责任，理由是政府在灾害管理方面存在疏忽，且未能有效应对。

司法专员 Shoba Rajah Dorai Rajah 裁定，包括 NADMA 和 METMalaysia 在内的联邦和地方机构均未履行其灾害管理职责，运营失误进一步加剧了危机。

法院驳回了“天灾”辩护，强调合理的干预措施可以减轻灾难的影响。

该案件将于10月6日进行进一步处理，以评估应向受影响居民支付的赔偿金。

莎阿南，9月29日讯——高等法院裁定马来西亚政府应对2021年摧毁莎阿南斯里慕达花园的特大洪水造成的损失承担责任，理由是政府未能及时升级灾害应对措施并维持有效的减灾系统。

司法专员 Shoba Rajah Dorai Rajah 批准了 50 位居民提起的诉讼，裁定他们已证明被告存在疏忽和违反职责的行为。

受访者包括马来西亚政府、国家灾害管理机构（Nadma）总监、首相署（特别职能）部长、马来西亚气象局（METMalaysia）总监以及环境和水务部长。

法院还裁定雪兰莪州灌溉与排水局 (DID) 总监和莎阿南市政局 (MBSA) 与联邦政府承担连带责任。

“因此，法院认为，原告已证明被告的运营职能和灾害管理责任产生了可预见的注意义务，”肖巴说。

法院驳回了被告提出的“天灾”抗辩，裁定当合理的人为干预可以减轻灾难时，天灾抗辩不适用。

“一旦某个机构承担了气象监测和国家救援行动，就必须具备履行这些职能的合理能力。

“因此，基于不可预见性的辩护仅限于没有任何合理的人为干预措施能够阻止或减轻后果的情况，”她说。

裁决指出，虽然技术数据证实了 2021 年 12 月 18 日前所未有的降雨，但该州拥有检测事件严重性的手段，却未能将这些数据转化为保护公民的可操作计划。

因此，法院认定，Nadma 和 METMalaysia 的运营失误应由联邦政府承担责任。

“Nadma未能升级灾害应对措施，未能维持灾害行动控制中心（PKOB），也未能有效部署马来西亚特别灾害援助和救援队（SMART）部队（这影响了救援援助的及时提供）。

“尽管马来西亚气象局制定了预测活动基准，但未能及时发布适当危险级别的预警，”她说。

法院指出，灾害管理方面存在系统性崩溃，包括尽管塔曼斯里穆达是洪水易发区，但缺乏公众意识宣传计划，以及未能确定正确的灾害等级，导致关键干预措施延误。

官僚主义的失灵进一步加剧了危机，信息从地区到州级的传递延误，以及缺乏指定的联络官来协调应对工作。这使得搜救工作主要依靠非政府组织和当地社区成员。

关于雪兰莪州直接投资发展局 (DID Selangor)，Shoba 法官裁定，该机构不能仅仅因为降雨量超过基础设施基准就免除责任。

“一旦资产建成并投入使用，DID 就承担起持续维护、升级和运营这些资产的合理能力的责任。

“因此，如果运营失误加剧了问题，那么以基础设施容量超出负荷为由进行辩护是不够的，”她说。

同样，法院认定MBSA不能以蓄水池和主要基础设施属于DID所有为由逃避其法定义务。法院认为，所有权并不免除MBSA根据街道、排水和建筑法规对其管辖范围内的公共排水系统进行维护的独立义务。

法院将10月6日定为案件管理日，以确定损害赔偿评估的听证日期。

这 50 名居民由 James Joshua Paulra、Regine Ng 和 Ahmad Badri 代表。联邦政府的高级联邦律师 Mohammad Al-Saifi Hashim、Nurul Farhana Khalid 和 Liew Horng Bin 出庭，而 JPS Selangor 和 MBSA 的州法律顾问 Faris Shah Kamarulzaman 和律师 Norazalina Hairuddin 分别出庭。

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