PENTADBIR TANAH DAERAH JOHOR BAHRU

On the court record

Illustrates how the courts review decisions on the conversion of land use and the conditions of a holding under the National Land Code and reassess compulsory-acquisition compensation, including questions about the appealability of an award and the date compensation is fixed.

The Pentadbir Tanah Daerah Johor Bahru (the Land Administrator of the Johor Bahru District) appears in this corpus almost always as a respondent, in land-administration and land-acquisition disputes decided in the High Court. A prominent strand concerns the National Land Code 1965 (Kanun Tanah Negara 1965): the conversion of land use and a refusal by the Land Administrator, appeals against the land authority under section 418 and the scope of its statutory powers, and the express conditions of a holding (syarat nyata — express condition) binding a registered proprietor, where a developer or landowner challenges a decision affecting the use or terms of its land, including land alienated with express conditions. A second strand concerns compulsory acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act 1960, including whether the amount of compensation awarded is appealable and the significance of the date of acquisition (masa pengambilan tanah — the time of the taking of land), which fixes the point by reference to which value is assessed. Because the Land Administrator makes and administers land decisions and awards in a district that includes substantial development land, the office is named as the respondent whose decision, condition or award is in issue. The matters are decided in the High Court. Collectively the decisions in which the Johor Bahru Land Administrator is a party illustrate how the courts review decisions on the conversion of land use and the conditions of a holding under the National Land Code, reassess compulsory-acquisition compensation, and resolve questions about the appealability of an award and the date by reference to which compensation is fixed. Several of the reported matters also concern the remedies available to a proprietor aggrieved by a refusal to convert land use or by the imposition of conditions, and the procedural discipline attaching to an appeal or a reference against the land authority. Across these decisions the office appears as the district authority whose decisions on the use, conditions and acquisition of land are tested before the court under the National Land Code 1965 and the Land Acquisition Act 1960.