PENGARAH TANAH DAN GALIAN (WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN)

On the court record

Marks how a federal land office features in disputes testing the enforceability of declaratory orders against the State, the statutory bar on recovery orders, and the adequacy of land compensation.

Pengarah Tanah dan Galian (Wilayah Persekutuan) (the Director of Lands and Mines, Federal Territory) appears in the reported judgments as a federal land authority named as a party in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi), the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) and the Federal Court (Mahkamah Persekutuan), in matters concerning contract, the compulsory transfer of land and the availability of mandamus against the Government. Its presence marks long-running disputes about land title and the enforcement of orders touching state land.

In one matter, framed in Malay, the authority was among the respondents in a dispute in which defendants terminated a contract on the basis of the doctrine of frustration of contract (doktrin kekecewaan kontrak), and the plaintiffs' claim was dismissed with costs. That reflects the authority's position as a necessary party where dealings in land are bound up with a contractual dispute between private parties.

The authority's more significant involvement lies in a protracted land dispute that reached the Federal Court. There the questions were whether the court could compel the Government to transfer the subject land based on a 2009 High Court declaration order, whether section 29(1)(b) of the Government Proceedings Act 1956 bars recovery orders against the Government, whether that section must be read together with Article 13 of the Federal Constitution, whether the court could order an assessment of adequate compensation under Order 53 rule 2(3) of the Rules of Court 2012 or invoke section 69(4) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, and whether the sum paid was adequate compensation. Those questions engage the limits of mandamus against the Government and the constitutional protection against deprivation of property. Across the decisions, the authority illustrates how a federal land office features in disputes testing the enforceability of declaratory orders against the State, the statutory bar on recovery orders, and the adequacy of compensation for land.