THE Ministry of Lands Housing & Survey welcomes the High Court orders handed down on Friday 6th September 2024 by the Honourable Chief Justice, in dismissing previous enforcement orders and claims by Pari Development Company about various land parcels in Noro, Western Province.
The matter dates back to 2012 when a previous Commissioner of Lands gave a 10-year Grant of Profit to the company, over several land parcels stretching over hundreds of hectares, comprising almost all of the remaining government-owned land around Noro town at that time.
The Commissioner of Lands then got the Registrar of Titles to cancel the Grant of Profit, and this led to the company filing a claim in the High Court in 2015 against this cancellation.
The matter was settled out of court later that year with Consent Orders requiring the land to be handed back to the company, but due to the alleged damages for loss incurred by the company, the order was to give Fixed Term Estates instead of merely re-registering the Grant of Profit.
The previous Commissioner then granted the company various Fixed Term Estates for 75 years covering most of those same hundreds of hectares in Noro, free from payment of any premium or land rent, and some of which the company quickly sold for profit.
By the time current Commissioner of Lands Alan McNeil was appointed to the role in 2018, several parcels remained outstanding, yet to be offered to the company.
Commissioner McNeil sought legal advice on the performance of the Consent Orders. In November 2018, the company sought and obtained Enforcement Orders against the Commissioner, then in 2019 the company filed an application for contempt of court against the Commissioner, requesting the court to fine or imprison McNeil for not handing over the remaining land titles to the company.
Finally, in 2021, Commissioner McNeil sought the Land Boards approval to offer the remaining Fixed Term Estates to the company, noting that the consent orders were binding on this being done.
The orders did not however state how long the Fixed Term Estates were expected to run for or what fees should be paid. The Board approved a term of 7 years and 8 months, being the term of the original 10-year Grant of Profit minus the time it was registered before being cancelled by the Registrar of Titles.
Fees were also to be paid for these Fixed Term Estates. The company rejected those terms, leading to a stalemate as to whether enough had been done to implement the consent orders or not.
Just one month after the Enforcement Orders were given in 2018, the Commissioner through the Attorney Generals Chamber applied to suspend those orders. For one reason or another, that application was not considered by the High Court until recently.
Last Friday’s judgment finally put the matter to rest by agreeing that the Commissioner and Land Board had complied with the Consent Orders by offering the Fixed Term Estates to the company.
The court also found that the Enforcement Orders issued in 2018 were defective and that the High Court Registrar should have rejected the application for those orders.
The Attorney Generals Counsel also pointed out to the court that the company was de-registered in 2023 and was therefore not in a position at that time to give instructions to its legal counsel.
The effect of last Fridays ruling is that Parcels 098-009-051, 098-009-053, 098-009-055, 098-009-057, 098-009-058, and 098-009-063 covering more than 30 hectares of prime land around the northern edge of Noro township remain in government hands, free of any claims or orders.
The land includes the road network north of South Pacific Oil to the Marina Hotel, and it includes land that the CCECC is temporarily occupying as a depot to undertake the Noro road upgrading project.
The Ministry of Commerce has plans to develop an industrial estate and the Ministry of Health has plans to build a medical store in this area as well.
The courts judgment secures the land for these and potentially other purposes to benefit the people of Noro and the wider community.
Commissioner McNeil thanks the hard-working team at the Attorney Generals Chamber for representing him in this and all other cases before the courts.
