KUALA LUMPUR (July 21) : Dhaya Maju LTAT Sdn Bhd has officially withdrawn its suit against Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB), the transport minister and the Government over the termination of its contract in the Klang Valley Double Tracking II (KVDTII) project.

This comes after Dhaya Maju had apparently settled its dispute with the Government, following a Cabinet decision in May to reappoint the company for the job.

However, it is understood that Dhaya Maju has not withdrawn its action against consultant Opus Consultants (M) Sdn Bhd, which was also named as a defendant in the suit.

Opus Consultants is being sued by Dhaya Maju, as the consultant's study was allegedly used by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to terminate its contract in 2020.

The withdrawal of the suit against the three other defendants was recorded by High Court judge Datuk Lim Chong Fong on Thursday (July 21).

“The Attorney General's Chambers is going to file the notices of the discontinuance at the Federal Court," a lawyer from Messrs Skrine, the firm representing Dhaya Maju, told the theedgemarkets.com.

"The company still wants to keep the suit against Opus Consultants, pending the resolution of certain issues,” added the lawyer,  who spoke on condition of anonymity.

On June 29, a three-member bench of the Federal Court, led by Justice Datuk Nalini Pathmanathan, gave the Ministry of Transport and the Government a month to inform the court whether or not it is pursuing its appeal over the suit.

Dhaya Maju had sued KTMB, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, the Government and Opus Consultants, following the sudden termination of the company's contract in the KVDTII project, which was awarded in 2017 by then Barisan Nasional government.

Dhaya Maju was originally terminated by then Pakatan Harapan government in 2018, but was allowed to continue after the company agreed to a slight reduction in cost, only for the contract to be terminated again by the PN government.

In a separate application, Dhaya Maju also named the Government and transport minister in a judicial review application to stop them from acquiring the work site and re-tender the project.

The company obtained the judicial review in the High Court, after which the Government and the transport minister appealed unsuccessfully at the Court of Appeal, before further appealing at the Federal Court.

A senior federal counsel had informed Justice Lim last month that the project will resume with Dhaya Maju remaining as contractor, as this was decided during the Cabinet meeting on May 18.

Word of a possible settlement came out as early as January, as reported by The Edge Malaysia weekly.

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