THE Shah Alam High Court has lifted the injunction obtained by a billboard operator to prevent the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) from taking down its billboards.

Following the decision made on Wednesday, MPSJ removed all 72 illegal billboards owned by the company in its locality.

MPSJ president Datuk Adnan Md Ikshan said the company sought the injunction three years ago against the council when negotiations to review a 15-year billboard concession failed.

“The agreement was signed in 1998 and it was in the company’s favour.

“It did not benefit us and we wanted to cancel the agreement,” he said.

No easy task: MPSJ president Datuk Adnan Md Ikshan (third from right) and some MPSJ councillors looking on as contractors bring down a billboard in USJ on Wednesday. – By Tho Xin Yee/The Star

Adnan said some of the billboard structures were built on road reserve without temporary occupation licence (TOL) and permits.

It was reported in July 2006 that in the agreement, the company was given permission to build 310 billboards. In return, it was required to build 60 bus stops and 20 pedestrian bridges.

When the Petaling Land Office and Public Works Department (PWD) brought down 23 of its billboards for erecting the structures on state and PWD land without TOL, the company asked MPSJ for RM4mil in compensation because the agreement stated that the council was responsible to obtain the TOL from the relevant authorities.

MPSJ did not pay the compensation because the proper procedure required the said company to apply for the TOL for development on government land, and that the billboard operator did not fulfil its promise of building the agreed number of pedestrian bridges and bus stops.

As of July 2006, it had built four bus stops and one pedestrian bridge in SS13, and erected 81 billboard structures.

Following the dispute, the company stopped paying licence fees to MPSJ while the latter stopped approving its billboards.

MPSJ councillor K. Arumugam said the company had filed a writ four years ago to claim compensation over the contractual dispute.

“In the agreement which was supposed to expire in 2013, the company would enjoy exclusivity in MPSJ and no other company has the rights to put up billboards.

“The dispute had cost us financial loss,” he said.

On Wednesday evening, the council’s contractor was seen taking down the billboards owned by the company at the junction of Persiaran Kewajipan and Persiaran Perpaduan in USJ.

Also present at the site were MPSJ councillors Pooi Weng Keong, Sufari Tinnin and Jaberi Ami.

Adnan said the council would bill the company for the cost of bringing down the illegal billboards.