[1] This is an action brought by the Plaintiff Bank against the Selangor State Authority wherein the Director of Lands and Mines Selangor was named as the Defendant by virtue of s 16 of the National Land Code (' NLC ') as this is a suit relating to land where liability is sought to be established against the State Authority. A State Director is as defined under s 5, .

The Plaintiff's Case

[2] The essence of the Plaintiff's case pertinent to the instant claim is as expressed in the Witness Statement of PW1, an employee of the Plaintiff designated as a Specialist in the Preventive and Credit Quality Task Force at Business Banking, as follows:

"Sometime in 2011, the Bank granted a loan of RM 1,500,000.00 to one Ng Ann Seng, the Borrower, to assist him in purchasing a piece of land in Cheras from one Lukman bin Hassan. On completion of the security documentation which included a Facility Agreement dated 16 May 2011 and a Charge on the said land in favour of the Bank, the loan was fully disbursed. The Borrower then defaulted on the loan and foreclosure proceedings were then commenced. The land was then auctioned off to one Ivory Ascent Sdn Bhd who successfully bid for the said land at the price of RM 2,300,000.00. However, the land, which ought to have been secured by the Charge in favour of the Bank, had, unbeknown to the Bank, been progressively acquired by the Government even before the land was acquired by the said Lukman bin Hassan. As a result of which, the Bank did not get the security it had bargained for. The Bank did not know of the acquisition because of the negligence and breach of statutory duty on the part of the land authority. In fact, there was nothing to alert the Bank that the land had already been acquired. Had the bank known or been alerted that the said land had already been acquired, the Bank would surely not have granted the loan. The Bank therefore had to refund the deposit of RM 100,000.00 paid by the successful bidder and now seek to recover its losses from the Selangor State Government as it never got to recover the loan or any part of the loan from the Borrower."

The Defence Case

[3] In its defence, the Defendant claimed that the instruments of transfer from Weng May Sdn Bhd to Lukman bin Hassan and from Lukman bin Hassan to Ng Ann Seng and the instrument of charge by Ng Ann Seng in favour of the Plaintiff were registered after the Defendant was satisfied that they were fit for registration and proceeded to register the dealings in good faith in the course of carrying out its statutory and administrative obligations under the NLC .

[4] DW1, the present Deputy Registrar of Titles in the Selangor Lands and Mines Office, the only witness for the Defendant, gave evidence as summarized in the Plaintiff's submission as follows:

"The Defendant had no knowledge at all concerning the acquisition of the said Land by the Government that had taken place.

Agree that the Form K was issued by the SA and the SA should know about the acquisition."

[5] In its Defence, the Defendant further contended that the Plaintiff had failed to name in its Statement of Claim ('SOC') the actual tortfeasor as required under ss 5 and 6 of the Government Proceedings Act , 1956 (' GPA ').

[6] In opposing the Plaintiff's claim the Defendant also advanced the following grounds in its Defence:

(i) The failure of the Pl