PERBADANAN PENGURUSAN AVENHAM v 1. ) ABU BAKAR BIN ABD GHANI 2. ) HAFIZ BIN ROSLAN

Case Significance

Illustrates how the courts defer to the specialised Strata Management Tribunal where a parallel tribunal claim on the same subject matter is already on foot, striking out overlapping High Court proceedings with liberty to refile.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam concerns an application by two individual defendants to strike out an originating summons filed by the Perbadanan Pengurusan Avenham (the Avenham management corporation), the body established under the strata legislation and comprising the registered parcel owners of the gated, guarded strata development known as Avenham Garden, Eco Grandeur in the Kuala Selangor district. The originating summons was brought under provisions of the Akta Pengurusan Strata 2013 (Strata Management Act 2013), the associated 2015 regulations, the Akta Hakmilik Strata 1985 (Strata Titles Act 1985) and the development's additional by-laws, and concerned a dispute over modifications to the Musolla (prayer room) at Avenham. The first defendant was a former chairman of the joint management body and the second defendant the administrator of the Musolla.

The decisive feature was that the defendants had already filed a claim against the management corporation before the Strata Management Tribunal (Tuntutan Tribunal No. TPS/B-1570-3/2025) raising the same subject matter. The management corporation's originating summons therefore overlapped substantially with the pending tribunal claim, giving rise to the question whether the High Court proceedings should be allowed to continue in parallel with the tribunal.

Applying the maxim generalia specialibus non derogant — that a general Act yields to the provisions of a special Act — and following authorities including UHG v Director General of Inland Revenue and Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd v Majlis Daerah Kemaman, the Court held that the specialised strata-tribunal regime should take precedence, so that the tribunal claim ought to be heard and decided first. The Court accordingly allowed the defendants' application and struck out the originating summons, but with liberty to the management corporation to refile, and with costs subject to allocatur. The judgment is a useful illustration of how the courts defer to the specialised Strata Management Tribunal where a parallel tribunal claim on the same subject matter is already on foot, striking out overlapping High Court proceedings with liberty to refile.