VIRGIN MANAGEMENT SDN BHD v Jayaganesh a/l Seraman @ Jayaraman

Case Significance

Illustrates the standing of a beneficial owner under a joint-venture development and assignment to obtain declaratory and injunctive relief against a trespasser, and the effect of a Bumiputera lot restriction in invalidating a dealing that would transfer the interest to a non-Bumiputera contrary to the restriction.

This High Court decision at Johor Bahru concerns the beneficial ownership of a three-storey shop-office unit and a claim for declaratory and injunctive relief against a person said to be occupying it without right. The plaintiff, a company, brought an originating summons in respect of the unit, asserting that it was the beneficial owner under a joint-venture development and an assignment, the registered landowner holding the land as a nominal trustee. The plaintiff invoked the Specific Relief Act 1950 and the court's jurisdiction to grant a declaration and an injunction. The court accepted that a beneficial owner has the locus standi to bring an action for a declaration and an injunction. It examined the transactions relied on, including the effect of a Bumiputera restriction on the lot, under which a dealing that would transfer the interest to a non-Bumiputera contrary to the restriction is invalid, and found that there was no valid sale and purchase agreement between the plaintiff and the defendant. It held that an alleged payment made by the defendant to a third party gave the defendant no right as against the plaintiff, and it declined to give weight to a third party's affidavit that it treated as hearsay and irrelevant, setting aside the affidavit of a witness who was not a party. Concluding that the defendant was in occupation as a trespasser without right, and regarding the defendant's counter-assertion as an attempt to take the property on a contrived basis, the court allowed the originating summons with costs of RM5,000, granting the declaration and a permanent injunction restraining the defendant from trespassing on or interfering with the property, with non-compliance exposing the defendant to contempt proceedings. The judgment is a useful illustration of the standing of a beneficial owner to obtain declaratory and injunctive relief against a trespasser and of the effect of a Bumiputera lot restriction on an alleged dealing.