Mokhtar Sidin JCA:

We had given our decision in respect of this appeal earlier whereby we allowed the appeal by the appellants. We now give our reasons for doing so.

The appellants, being unhappy with the assessments raised by the respondent, appealed against those assessments to the Special Commissioners. Before the Special Commissioners there were two separate appeals but were heard together because the issue was the same in both appeals. The appeals continued to be heard together in the High Court. The first appeal was by Syarikat Jasa Bumi (Woods) Sdn. Bhd. while the second appeal was by Margaret Luping and two others. The appellant in the first appeal did not appeal to this court. As such the appeal before us is the one by Margaret Luping and two others.

As can be seen from the record of appeal, both the Special Commissioners and the High Court judge at Kota Kinabalu treated the facts of these two appeals as one. There were times in the case stated and in the judgment of the learned High Court judge when where reference to one appeal covered the other appeal as well.

The appeal by Margaret Luping and two others were against the following additional assessments rais