Apartment owners get temporary reprieve

PENANG: The owners of 64 apartment units at Taman Jelutong Jaya here have been given a temporary reprieve as their homes would not go under the hammer Wednesday. 

High Court Justice John Louis O’Hara on Tuesday granted a stay of execution on the auction, pending the hearing of an application to intervene a court order obtained by Public Bank Berhad on Sept 22, 2005 to auction off the units. 

Public Bank had obtained the auction order after developer Taman Penawar Sdn Bhd failed to pay the outstanding RM1.5mil debt. It is learnt that the developer wound up two years ago. 

The two blocks of apartments at Sungai Pinang have 90 low-medium cost units, most of which have been occupied since 2000.  

On Monday, a group of apartment owners filed an application to intervene the court order, claiming that they have proprietary and beneficial interests in their action. They are also applying to set aside the entire order of sale. 

On Tuesday, the bank's counsel C.H. Chang told the court that his client needed time to file an affidavit-in-reply. 

The apartment owners were represented by counsel Malkit Singh Randhawa and Jagdeep Singh Deo, while counsel Shahira Parvin Abdul Aziz represented the Insolvency Department.

--THE STAR