KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 ― The High Court today issued an order barring the government from going ahead with its acquisition of the city's iconic Ampang Park mall for the MRT project, until a legal challenge against the takeover of the private property is heard.

Lawyer Jason Ng Kau said the court had also granted a temporary order that would stop the land authority from awarding any compensation to Ampang Park mall unit owners, effectively blocking the compulsory land acquisition from going on.

"So at the moment, the court has granted the applicants that the land administrator, the land office cannot take possession of Ampang Park (mall), they cannot come in and chase them out.

"This is good news to all Ampang Park (mall) owners, you can celebrate your Chinese New Year," the lawyer representing 39 strata title owners in the mall told reporters here.

He also said that the 39 unit owners had crossed the first hurdle when High Court judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah granted them leave today for their judicial review against the land acquisition.

"This is in fact the first time in history in Malaysia whereby land acquisition involves strata titles, so this is a landmark case, so this case decided either way will affect all the strata titles in Malaysia," he said.

Ng said the two interim orders blocking the government from awarding compensation to Ampang Park mall owners and from taking possession of the property would last until February 29.

At the case management on February 29, Ng said they are expected to get a hearing date for the judicial review bid and will also apply for an extension of the two orders.

But from now until February 29, the unit owners will continue their negotiations with railway project developer MRT Corp in a bid to reach a mutual agreement that will not result in the mall's demolition, he said.

"So during this period, we will negotiate with MRT. We are not against the project, we are not against the government, we are supportive of the government. All we want is that the government do not demolish Ampang Park," he said.

On January 8, the 39 unit owners filed for judicial review of the government's nod for the acquisition of Ampang Park mall for an underground passage between the planned MRT station and the existing Ampang Park LRT station.

They named the Federal Government, Federal Territories Ministry and the Federal Territories director of Lands and Mines Office, the Federal Territories Land Administrator as respondents in their legal challenge.

They want the courts to declare the government's acquisition decision as illegal and unconstitutional, and also asked for the courts to quash any further land acquisition proceedings.