KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 -- The Court of Appeal has rejected five appeals by Berjaya Hills Resort Bhd and several landowners, upholding the Pahang state government's right to revise quit rent rates without needing the National Land Council to approve the specific amounts.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by a three-member bench, Justice Datuk Choo Kah Sing clarified a key distinction in land governance: while the National Land Council must approve the timing of a state's revision exercise, the actual rates imposed are determined solely by the state authority under the National Land Code (NLC), FMT reported.

The legal battle began when Berjaya Hills and other proprietors challenged a substantial increase in quit rent across 330 parcels of ...