Siti Radziah Binti Kamarudin

On the court record

Siti Radziah Binti Kamarudin's reported work is concentrated in land law and in litigation involving state land authorities. Several matters turn on the National Land Code and the Land Acquisition Act 1960: acting for the land administrator and registrar in proceedings brought by Pristine Power Sdn Bhd and EKVE Sdn Bhd, the questions included whether acquired land can be re-alienated, whether a final title is defeasible, and the reach of provisions on indefeasibility and fraud under the Code. In a Court of Appeal appeal she was engaged in a forfeiture dispute framed around the right to property in Article 13(1) of the Federal Constitution, where the court weighed the quasi-criminal nature of forfeiture, the need for strict compliance with constitutional safeguards, and Wednesbury reasonableness following an admitted mistake by the Land Office.

Her reported appearances also include a negligence claim against the Land Office over the issuance of a final title that inserted one owner's plots within another's, raising the effect of sections 89 and 340(1) on registrable rights, and a mandamus application asking whether the State Financial Officer was the correct respondent where compensation had not been paid and a certificate under section 33 of the Government Proceedings Act 1956 had been obtained. One matter moves into a different register altogether: a defamation appeal in which the pleaded cause of action was described as kausa tindakan Fitnah (a cause of action in defamation) arising from a complaint about the conduct of a peguam syarie (a Syariah legal practitioner), where the court considered whether the respondent had acted atas kapasiti resma dan bukan peribadi (in an official rather than a personal capacity) and whether a certificate from the Attorney General was required under section 24(2) of the Government Proceedings Act 1956. The reported matters mark her out as counsel comfortable in land, statutory-authority and public-law litigation.