Mokhtar Sidin JCA:

The appellant is the registered owner of a vehicle No. NAJ 1912, a Honda Accord 2.0 EX(i) (hereinafter referred to as "the said vehicle"). He bought the said vehicle for RM70,000. He paid RM10,000 and for the balance of RM60,000 he took a loan from Hong Leong Finance. When the appellant paid the loan in full, he was registered as the owner of the said vehicle on 4 February 1994. On 28 April 1994 the police seized the said vehicle and kept it at the Petaling Jaya Police Station for the purpose of further investigations in order to enable the chemist to determine whether the engine and chassis numbers had been tampered to enable the police to obtain further particulars from Kah Motors Company in respect of the said vehicle. From the evidence there was no dispute that the said vehicle originated from Sabah. After it was brought into West Malaysia, it was registered at the Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Negeri Sembilan with the registration number NAJ 1912. Later the Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Negeri Sembilan discovered that there was a syndicate falsifying and forging several applications whereby vehicles registered in Sabah were brought into West Malaysia and given new registration numbers. On discovering this the said department lodged a police report and blacklisted all the vehicles, one of which is the said vehicle. After examination, the chemist confirmed that the chassis and the engine numbers had been tampered but could not establish the identity of the said vehicle or its origin. From the evidence, the police was unable to determine the original owner of the said vehicle or whether the said vehicle had been stolen. Despite that the police continued to detain the said vehicle until 23 January 1995 when the said vehicle was released to the appellant under a bond.

On 6 May 1995, the appellant took out an originating summons seeking the following orders:

(1) A declaration that the appellant is the beneficial owner of the said vehicle and that the two respondents have no right to interfere with the right of the appellant under s. 7(1)(a) Hire-Purchase Act 1967 and also under art. 13(1) of the Federal Constitution and the Road Transport Act 1987 and all the regulations thereunder. Pursuant to that order, the appellant prayed for an order that the said vehicle be registered in the name of the appellant in accordance with para. (a) of s. 8 of the Road Transport Act.

(2) Secondly, the appellant seeks a declaration that the registration of the said vehicle by the second respondent with registration number WDB 1898 with engine number MA 1A5-571289 and chassis number CB 3-7036281 made on 10 August 1992 under s. 10 of the Road Transport Act 1987 is binding on the second respondent.

(3) The appellant also prayed for an order that the second respondent issued a valid road tax with the registration number NAJ 1912.

(4) The respondents pay damages for depriving the appellant of his right under art. 13(1) of the Federal Constitution and the senior assistant registrar be ordered to assess the damages.

In his affidavit in support of the application, the appellant deposed that on 24 January 1994 a person by the name of Dewarajoo a/l Gurusamy had shown him the said vehicle and the appellant agreed to buy the said vehicle. On 25 January 1994, the appellant took the said vehicle to a workshop at Jalan Yong Shook Lin, Petaling Jaya where the said vehicle was examined by a mechanic in the presence of the appellant where it was established that the engine number to be MA 1A5-571289 and the chassis number to be CB 3-7036281 which is the same as the one entered in the registration book of the said vehicle. On that confirmation the appellant decided to purchase the said vehicle at RM70,000. On 27 January 1994, the appellant paid Dewarajoo RM10,000, upon which Dewarajoo handed the registration book and the said vehicle. In the registration card it is recorded that Dewarajoo bought the car from F & C Motor Sdn. Bhd. For the balan