Ameng v Poia [1998] PGNC 135; N1765 (12 October 1998)

N1765

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
[IN THE NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]

OS 527 OF 1996

ABEL AMENG
Plaintiff

V

MATHEW POIA & OS
First Defendants

WILLIAM NOKI, Provincial Land Court Magistrate
Second Defendant

Waigani: Woods J
12 October 1998

Land Disputes Settlement Act – time to appeal from local land court to Provincial Land Court – must appeal within 12 months if leave given - no power to extend the period beyond the 12 months – magistrate erred in hearing appeal lodged 17 months after decision.

P Ame for the applicant
First Respondent in person.

12 October 1998

Woods J: The applicant is seeking review of the orders of the Provincial Land Court magistrate Bill Noki when he extended the time for filing an appeal from the Local Land Court after the time allowed to appeal had lapsed.

The history of the matter is that on 17 August 1994 the Local Land Court at Kwikila made a decision over the land known as ‘Zarima’. On The 26th January 1996 Mathew Poia lodged an appeal against that decision to the District Land Court at Kwikila on behalf of himself and others.

The Land Disputes Settlement Act Ch 45 provides for an appellate jurisdiction in section 53:

Subject to this part, a Provincial Land Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine appeals from a decision of a Local Land Court where the land in dispute is situated wholly or partly within the area of the Provincial Land Court.

Section 53:

(1) Subject to this section, a person aggrieved by a decision of a Local Land Court may appeal within 3 months after the date of the decision to the Provincial Land Court.
(2) Where the Provincial Land Court is of opinion that it is desirable in the interests of justice to do so, it may, whether or not the time fixed for appeal under subsection (1) has expired, extend the time fixed for appeal, but leave shall not be granted after the end of the period of 12 months after the date of the decision appealed against.

In this case the appeal was lodged 17 months after the decision of the Local Land Court therefore it is clearly outside the extended time of 12 months allowed for in the legislation. The Land Courts are created by statute and only have the jurisdiction and powers given to them in the legislation. They cannot exercise powers outside the terms of the legislation. The legislation clearly only gives a period of 12 months in which to appeal against the Lower Land Court. The appellants had failed to appeal in time and the magistrate had no power to accept the appeal. I must allow the Review and find that the magistrate clearly committed an error and I quash the orders of the magistrate.