TUARAN. The District Native Court here ended a retiree’s
18 years dilemma of being unable to use his one-third share of an NT land he
bought in 1996 at Kg Tambalang, because one of the co-owners refused to sign
the subdivision offer from the Lands and Survey Department. The appellant who
wished to be identified as David Leo was unable to enter his plot via the
access road as proposed in the subdivision.
The District Officer A.M. Ibnu
Hj. A.K. Baba who led the panel with two other Native Chiefs found that all the
documentations including land surveying for subdivision were valid and were
already approved by the Lands Department. The court therefore ordered the
respondent to comply with the subdivision.
During the hearing, respondent
Mr Pangandai, also a retiree said he agreed with the subdivision and the
provision of an open space but disagreed with the location of the access road
because he was not part of the earlier agreement including the surveying of the
land. However the court found this court statement as contradictory to his
earlier written statement and gave him a chance to withdraw which he did.
Another reason he gave was that
lots of fruit trees are found along the proposed access road and requested for
alternative however the court also rejected this as there is no alternative
access road available.
The bench also said only common
vehicles would be entering the land and not armoured trucks.
The respondent then said because
of the access road and the fruit trees he will be willing to go to any other
courts.
The panel of judges then inform
that their decision here is final however if the respondent is not satisfied,
he can find a lawyer and then appeal at the Native Court of Appeal at Kota
Kinabalu within 60 days during which the appellant will have to wait before he
can take further action.
The case was decided within 20
minutes overriding an earlier decision
by the Native Court here with a panel of three native chiefs on 10 January 2013
which amongst others decided that: -
a) The case should be referred
to the civil court
b) The case is not under their
jurisdiction because no customary laws were involved
c) The dispute should be settled via mutual
consent.
Leo’s predicament begun on 9th
Sept 1996 when he bought the one-third share of the 3 acre land from one of the
shareholders and proceeded to have the land subdivided under Section 40(3) of
Land Ordinance Sub 68, with the agreement of the others. The cost of the surveying
for the subdivision was shared by all the owners and by 21 Jan 1999, the Lands
and Survey Department have issued them an approval. Meanwhile one of the shareholders died and
the property was claimed by her son Mr Pangandai. In November 2011 the Lands
office at Tuaran invited all the shareholders of the land to sign the offer
letter of subdivision but one refused to sign.
After receiving the verdict from
the Native Court in 2013, Leo went to the Civil Court registrar only to be told
that his case should be heard by the Native Court. He also received a letter from the Lands and
Survey Department dated 6 May 2013 saying that the authority to hear this case
is the Native Court in accordance with Section 40(3) of the Sabah Land
Ordinance thus starting the run-around.
Leo expressed relief that the
District Officer of Tuaran has finally ended his merry-go-round quandary but
still have to wait another 60 days for the final solution while contemplating
how to recover his losses over the years.
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