Gopal Sri Ram JCA:

Introduction

These three appeals were heard on 17 February 1997. At the conclusion of argument they were allowed and certain consequential orders were made to which I will refer later in this judgment. A brief oral summary of the main grounds on which the decision of this court was based were also delivered. My written reasons for the decision arrived at now follow.

All three appeals arise from a single judgment of the High Court and concern the same subject matter. Although the appellants are different in each appeal, the respondents are common. For this reason, when the appeals were called on for hearing, it was decided, with the consent of all Counsel before the court to hear the appellant in each appeal and then to invite a response from Counsel for the common respondents. The appeals were heard, not in the order in which they were filed, but according to what was perceived to be the logical sequence of the arguments raised by the parties in the court below. Accordingly, Dato' Gani Patail, Senior Federal Counsel who appeared for the appellants in Civil Appeal No. 166/96 ('the first appeal') was invited to make his address first, followed by Datuk JC