Land group wins appeal

THE Supreme Court has dismissed a Supreme Court review application sought by the Yumbi clan of the Huli tribe over the ownership of the Moran Petroleum Development Licence (PDL) 2 land in Southern Highlands yesterday.
A three-men Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice Collin Makail, Justice John Alexander Logan and Justice Hitelai Polume-Kiele ruled yesterday that the objection to competency by David Yawe for and on behalf of the Lapilape Sogofani incorporated land group and others was upheld and the appeal by Talibe Hegele for and on behalf of the Yumbi incorporated land group was dismissed.
The Supreme Court also ordered that the appellant pay the respondents costs of an incidental to the appeal, including the objection to its competency to be taxed if not agreed.
The matter relates to land issue over the Moran PDL 2 project in the Lake Kutubu local level government in Southern Highlands, which was disputed by two groups, the Yumbi clan of Hela and the Lapilape clan from the Fasu tribe.
Legal counsel for Yawe and his Lapilape clan, Avia Koisen of Koisen Lawyers, said after the court decision that in 2015, the Lapilape clan of the Fasu tribe applied for royalty benefits from the State but was told that they were not legitimate as the provincial lands court in Mendi awarded the land to the Yumbi in 2006.
She said that forced her clients, the Lapilapes, to pursue the matter at the National Court in 2018 and it ruled in their (Lapilape) favour.
However, dissatisfied by the National Court decision that nullified the provincial court decision, the Yumbi clans, led by the Hegele and others, appealed the matter at the Supreme Court earlier this year.
However, Koisen said having seen flaws in the application, she and her clients (Lapilape) submitted an objection to the competency of the appeal and the Supreme Court bench upheld their objection to competency and dismissed the appeal yesterday.
She said this now allowed for her clients to have access to all the benefits from their land and their resources.
Yawe thanked the courts and said the decision legitimised his clan’s ownership of their land.
He said the Lapilape were now the principal landowners of Moran PDL 2 while PDL, 5 and 6 belonged to the Huli although they (Lapilape) retained 10 per cent of PDL 5.