Raja Azlan Shah (Malaya) CJ (delivering the judgment of the Court):

These two appeals, heard together and the subject of one judgment, were from the decisions and orders of the High Court in Penang (reported in [1978] 2 MLJ 156) refusing interim injunctions and striking out both the actions under O. 25 r. 3 as disclosing no reasonable cause of action. We allowed them on 6 December 1978. We now proceed to give our reasons.

The facts in Federal Court Civil Appeal No. 29 of 1978 are as follows. The appellants who are the local authority are concerned with the illegal activities of the respondents in their statement of claim dated 15 December 1977 they allege that the respondents, who are in possession and control of the dwellinghouse at No. 42, Jalan Tanjong Tokong, Pulau Pinang, have on 21 September 1977 applied to them under s. 144(7) of the Municipal Ordinance (Cap. 133) to convert it into an eating-house, but without waiting for approval carried out structural alterations which in the absence of an approval is an offence punishable under s. 144(9) of the said Ordinance. To convert the dwelling-house into an eating-house is by virtue of s. 144(11)(e) of the said Ordinance