The court determined that maintaining the status quo is prudent when a registrable interest is claimed amidst ongoing civil litigation.

FACTS

The plaintiff is the wife of Balwant Singh a/l Sunder Singh, deceased (the deceased). The defendant is the elder brother of the said deceased. Since 1929 the defendant lived with his late parents in a house situated on land held under title No. G.M. 1164, Lot 4159, Mukim Batu, Daerah Kuala Lumpur, Negeri Wilayah Persekutuan (the said land). The said land was then registered in the name of the mother of the deceased. Subsequently the mother of the deceased transferred the land into the name of the deceased. Upon the death of her husband, the plaintiff, pursuant to the Small Estates Distribution Ordinance 1955, obtained an order on 13.1.95 transferring the said land into her name. The defendant has been living with his wife and children in the house situated on the said land ever since. The plaintiff has tried evicting the defendant without success. The defendant entered a caveat on the said land.

THE APPLICATION

This is the plaintiff's application for an order to remove the said caveat and for a further order that the Registrar of Titles be directed to cancel the said caveat and that the defendant be precluded from entering any further caveat on the said land and for costs.

FINDINGS OF THE COURT

The defendant has affirmed under oath that after his marriage in India in 1949 and since his return to Malaysia in 1950 his mother, who then was the registered owner of the said land, had given him permission to build the house presently known as No. 241-C, Sentul Pasar, 51000 Kuala Lumpur (the said house) on the said land. He then built the said house in mid-1952 out of his own savings and with the consent and permission of his deceased mother. Since then he has been living in that house where his children were born. Even now his two sons, Pritam Singh and Praim Singh, are living in the said house with their families. The defendant averred that his two other older brothers had married and were living apart. Since he was 8 years old he had been taking care of the family by raising cows. Even when he was working he had given all his earnings to his mother for the upkeep of the family. Out of his own cost and at the request of his mother he had built ten other houses on the said land for rental purposes, to support his mother. His mother had always assured him that all the said houses that were on the land belonged to him.

The plaintiff in her reply affidavit, did not deny these facts. She merely contended she had no knowledge.

The defendant further contended that in 1980 when his deceased mother transferred the said land to the deceased, she had informed the said deceased and him that the area of land on which the buildings were situated should belong to the defendant.

The plaintiff being the registered owner of the land is clearly an aggrieved person pursuant to section 327(1) of the National Land Code (the NLC ) and is therefore authorised to make this application. However, section 323(1)(a) of the also empowers the defendant to lodge a caveat so long as he can show that he has a registrable interest in the said land. Parties have admitted that the plaintiff has indeed commenced a suit to evict the defendant. To a question by the Court, counsel for the plaintiff confirmed that the defendant has indeed been staying in the said house since 1952. Counsel also confirmed that since that time the defendant was never paying any rental to the deceased mother, or to the deceased. I am informed by both parties that the deceased died on 11.5.94.

It is obvious to me that this is a case where it is only just that I maintain status quo until disposal of the civil suit. The defendant has made averments of facts sufficient to retain the caveat and the plaintiff has no knowledge of those facts. In the circumstances, for the purposes only of this application I have to accept those unchallenged averments of facts. To my mind, at least in equity, the defendant would seem to have a registrable interest in the land in respect of the house wh