In this Application (Encl. 2), the plaintiffs applied under s.327 of the National Land Code 1965 (NLC) to have removed the Private Caveat Presentation No. 5451/92 (Caveat) lodged by the defendant (Caveator) on 18 parcels of lands (18 titles) of which the Plaintiffs are the registered owners.

The brief facts are as follows: By a letter dated 5.5.1988, the State Government of Perak approved an application of the plaintiffs for a piece of land upon certain terms and conditions, including the following restrictions relevant to this Application:

"Sekatan-sekatan kepentingan:

(i) Tanah ini tidak boleh dipindah milik atau di pajak kecil, melainkan kepada orang atau orang-orang yang diluluskan secara bertulis oleh YAB Menteri Besar Perak. [2]

(ii) Tanah ini tidak boleh di bahagi-bahagi kecilkan mengikut Seksyen 135 Kanun Tanah Negara tanpa kebenaran bertulis oleh Menteri Besar Perak."

On the 6.9.89 the plaintiffs and the Caveator entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement (S/P Agreement) whereby the Caveator purchased the approved land subject to the same terms and conditions including the restrictions from the plaintiffs and one Tengku Abdul Rahman bin Tengku Firdaus (TAR) as vendors, even though the approval letter of 5.5.88 did not mention the name of TAR at all, for consideration of a sum of RM30,474.00 which was fully paid on its execution on 6.9.89. Subsequently on 20.10.89, the Caveator entered into another Agreement (Partnership Agreement) with the plaintiffs through the said TAR as their duly appointed representative with the object to develop the approved land as an Industrial Estate.

It is not disputed, as evidenced from the Suratan Hakmilik Sementara, the approved land was eventually subdivided into and issued with the present 18 separate and individual titles on 26.9.90 endorsed with exactly the same Sekatan-sekatan Kepentingan. Sometime after the issuance of the 18 titles, the Caveator lodged a caveat (the former caveat) on the basis of the S/P Agreement against only 8 out of the 18 titles, the exact date being not disclosed, but from the Private Caveat Presentation Number sometime in 1991. The former caveat was later removed at the expiry of the period specified in the [3] Registrar's Notice dated 16.9.91 under s.326 NLC as no extension was provided. Thereafter on 17.11.1992 the Caveator based upon the Partnership Agreement again entered the present Caveat, the subject-matter of the Application of the plaintiffs filed on 2.9.93 for its removal. Meantime pending the hearing of the Application the Caveator had on 24.1.94 commenced a Civil Suit in the High Court at Ipoh vide No. 22-15-94 against plaintiffs for specific performance of the S/P Agreement dated 6.9.89, without a word being mentioned about the Partnership Agreement of 20.10.89.

For reasons best known to themselves, it is incomprehensible why separate actions have been filed and no effort made for consolidation when so many similar issues and matters of controversy could and should be determined once and for all in one action. As it is, I shall confine the hearing of the Court to the issues involved in this Application and leave the other matters best to be determined by the trial judge when hearing them.

At the outset, I shall dispose of an important but regretably irrelevant matter to the Application lest it may be construed as an oversight on my part. It is the S/P Agreement of 6.9.89 arising therefrom the former caveat and its subsequent removal. The legality of the S/P Agreement is being questioned on the allegation that it was an illegal money lending transaction. The affidavits and the written submissions for all [4] concerned placed so much emphasis on it. I consider it irrelevant to this Application because for one thing, the S/P Agreement was not the basis on which the present Caveat, was entered. I repeat, these are matters best to be dealt with in the other forum.

There is yet another obstacle which I shall deal with briefly, before I con