PETALING JAYA: The Melaka High Court has postponed the hearing of a judicial review application brought by the Canossian Sisters in a bid to secure the legal title to the Sacred Heart Canossian Convent in Melaka.
The hearing, scheduled for this morning, was called off as Justice Radzi Abdul Hamid is on medical leave.
Senior assistant registrar Siti Nur Ain Ariffin then fixed June 26 for the hearing.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2022 by two statutory entities claiming to be the legal and beneficial owners of the property.
The first applicant, The Mother Superior of the Daughters of Charity of the Canossian Institute (Malaya), was established by law in 1957 to own property belonging to the Canossian Sisters.
The second applicant, The Agent of the Commission of the Estates of the Portuguese Missions in China and Singapore (or the Portuguese Mission), was established under a 1910 colonial enactment, and claimed to be the legal owner of the land on which the convent is situated.
The application names the state’s director of land titles, its director of land and mines and the registrar of titles as respondents.
In a statement filed in the proceedings and sighted by FMT, the applicants said the land, known as Lot 6, had served as the dwelling place for the Canossian Sisters and housed orphans and boarders since 1905.
They said a primary school was built on Lot 6 in 1929 which had a student population of 280 in 1938. A secondary school was built in 1950, and by 1958, the school had 1,210 students.
According to the statement, the title to Lot 6 was at all times held by the Portuguese Mission.
“The Canossian Sisters were the beneficial owner who managed, operated and administered the Sacred Heart Convent,” the statement said, adding that the school on the premises became known as the Portuguese Convent.
The applicants claimed that the title deed to Lot 6, issued during the Dutch occupation of the state, was in the custody of Catholic priest Fr Alvaro Martins Corado during World War II.
They claimed the deed was lost after Fr Corado, then the vicar for both St Peter’s Church and the Portuguese Convent, was arrested and imprisoned by the Japanese in 1942.
He passed away in captivity two years later, the statement added.
The applicants said over the past 10 years, they had engaged in correspondence, communications and meetings with the Melaka state authorities in a bid to secure the issuance of the title to replace the lost deed.
However, in a letter dated March 8, 2022, the state authorities claimed it did not have jurisdiction to confer title on the applicants.
The applicants want the High Court to issue a declaration confirming they are the legal and beneficial owners of Lot 6.
They also want the court to order the respondents to take the necessary steps to issue the title to the land in their name.
Lawyers Joy Appukuttan and Lim Jie Sheng represented both applicants at case management today. The respondents were represented by Aziz Engan and Narasiah Saini.
Radzi granted the applicants leave to pursue the judicial review application on Jan 6 last year. - FMT
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