Edgar Joseph Jr FCJ:

The Background Facts

The essential facts on which this appeal turns may be stated briefly thus:

The Respondent to this appeal Syarikat Bekerjasama-sama Sungei Gelugor Dengan Tanggungan Berhad ("the Society") is a Co-operative Society registered under the Co-operative Societies Act, 1948. The Society was the registered proprietor of certain land comprised in Lot 006099 Mk. 13 D.T.L. Sungei Gelugor, Pulau Pinang ("the Land"), in area 1.9 acres, with road frontage along Jalan Helen Brown, George Town, Penang.

On 22 March 1987, at the Annual General Meeting ("the A.G.M.") of the Society, it was resolved by its members that low-cost flats should be built on the Land and the flats thus built be sold to members or their dependants. For this purpose, an architect Mr. Lawrence Loh ("the Architect") was employed to design, prepare and submit all necessary documentation and plans for a proposed single storey block of 10-storey flats, each with a built-up area of 700 sq. ft., to include 183 units of flats and 7 units of shops ("the Project"), with a view to obtaining planning approval from the Appellant, the Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang ("the Council").

Purs