GELANG EMAS SDN BHD v 1. ) MOHD RASHIDI BIN ABD RASHID 2. ) PENGHUNI-PENGHUNI YANG TIDAK DIKETAHUI PENCELAH Goh Gek Eng (Sebagai Pencelah Yang Dicadangkan)

Case Significance

Applies the Pegang Mining test to allow a proposed intervener with a direct, non-commercial competing interest in the property to intervene in Order 89 summary-possession proceedings, the intervention not being the end of the main action.

This High Court (Johor Bahru) decision concerns an application by a proposed intervener for leave to intervene in summary-possession proceedings. The main proceedings were brought by the plaintiff company against the defendants by originating summons for summary possession of a property in the Gelang Patah area of Johor under Order 89 rule 1 of the Rules of Court 2012. The proposed intervener, a Singapore citizen, applied under Order 15 rule 6 of the Rules of Court 2012 for leave to intervene in that action, an application vehemently opposed by the plaintiff.

Upon hearing counsel for both the plaintiff and the proposed intervener, the court allowed the application to intervene with costs. In its reasons it applied the test formulated by Lord Diplock in Pegang Mining Co Ltd v Choong Sam & Ors, namely whether the proposed intervener's rights against, or liabilities to, any party to the action in respect of the subject matter of the action would be directly affected by any order that might be made in the action.

The court found that the case raised a competing interest between the plaintiff and the proposed intervener over the property that could not be characterised as merely commercial or indirect. Applying the Pegang Mining test, it was satisfied that the proposed intervener should be allowed to intervene in the hearing of the originating summons, since the property was the subject of a competing claim in which the intervener asserted a direct interest. The court emphasised that allowing the intervention was not the end of the matter in the main action; the parties would still have the opportunity to ventilate the competing interest over the property. The judgment illustrates the application of the Pegang Mining test to a leave-to-intervene application in summary-possession proceedings, and the court's willingness to permit intervention where a proposed intervener asserts a direct, non-commercial competing interest in the property in dispute.