Titau v Kabubuke [2007] KIHC 129; Civil Case 113 of 2007 (29 August 2007)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KIRIBATI
CIVIL JURISDICTION
HELD AT BETIO
REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI

High Court Civil Case 113 of 2007

BETWEEN:

KIABAUA TITAU
Applicant

AND:

TEROUTAKI KABUBUKE
Respondent

For the Plaintiff: Mr Banuera Berina
For the Respondent: Ms Botika Maintinnara

Date of Hearing: 29 August 2007

JUDGMENT

This application for certiorari is linked to that in HCCC 56/07. I decided in that case that if a babai pit has disappeared the ownership of the land on which the pit had been dug reverts to the surrounding land owner.

In this case counsel have told me that the pit has been filled in and the respondent has built a house of the filled land. The respondent went to the Court and told it that improvements had been made on the babai pit and that his father Kabubuke Bango should be registered as the owner of the land.

The Court accepted what the respondent said and registered Kabubuke. The applicant, Kiabaua the surrounding landowner was not a party to those proceedings or aware of them. He now complains and Mr Berina on his behalf argues, based on the decision in HCCC 56/07, that Kiabaua is the owner of the land on which the babai pit previously was and so Kabubuke could not be given a title to the land on which the pit has been located.

The applicant should have been a party to the proceedings and given an opportunity to be heard. That he was not is sufficient to invalidate the decision which must be quashed.

The application for certiorari is granted and the decision of the Single Magistrate is quashed.

THE HON ROBIN MILLHOUSE QC
Chief Justice