In a decision last month, the Court of Appeal declared as null and void any documents signed, obtained, or received prior to the date of the court’s order.

The court held that the practice, which had been in place since 2022, went against the National Land Code.

The Johor Lands and Mines Department (PTG) the registrar of titles, and state land administrators were ordered to immediately cease the practice of asking for the undertakings.

Lawyers had been required since 2022 to submit a declaration (surat akuan) and their clients to submit an undertaking (akuan pemohon) attesting to the authenticity of documents submitted for processing.

They were also required to give an undertaking that they would not subject the PTG to any legal action.

The court’s orders came when it allowed an appeal by the Bar Council against a high court decision in August 2023 to dismiss the Bar’s application for a judicial review of the department’s actions.

In its appeal, the Bar said it was illogical and unreasonable for the department to ask a person to vouch for information and documents supplied by a different party or parties about which the applicant has no knowledge.

Signing the “surat akuan” also meant a person dealing with PTG must relinquish their future legal rights.

The Bar argued that the High Court judge failed to appreciate that the forfeiture of rights requirement was “irrational, unreasonable, self-serving, against public policy and is likely to produce absurd outcomes of penalising victims of fraud”.

The appeal was heard by Justices Lee Swee Seng, Choo Kah Sing and Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.

Yeo Yang Poh, Fadhil Ihsan and Syahmi Nawawi represented the Bar Council while assistant state legal advisor Adzam Zainal Abidin appeared for the state land authorities.