PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has granted leave to two lawmakers to begin a judicial review challenging former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend Parliament during the Covid-19 pandemic through an emergency proclamation.
On Wednesday (July 24), a five-member panel led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat allowed the appeals brought by Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim and Perak state assemblyman Abdul Aziz Bari.
Tengku Maimun said both lawmakers had met the threshold for leave for judicial review.
"We are not answering the questions (of law) at this point and parties are at liberty to canvass the questions at the High Court.
"The orders of the courts below (High Court and Court of Appeal) are set aside. We remit the case back to the High Court for the hearing of the substantive applications,” she said.
Tengku Maimun fixed July 31 for the case to be mentioned before High Court judge Justice Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid.
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On March 11, 2021, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed an application for leave to commence judicial review proceedings brought by Abdul Aziz, then-opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, former Pulai MP Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub and former Sungai Petani MP Tan Sri Johari Abdul.
Hassan's bid for leave was dismissed by the Johor Baru High Court on April 26 that year.
Anwar withdrew his appeal in November last year while Johari, who is now Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, withdrew his appeal in January. Salahuddin passed away in July last year.
In today’s proceeding, Senior Federal Counsel Liew Horng Bin, representing Muhyiddin and the government, objected to the appeals saying that it has been overtaken by events whereby the elected representatives, previously members of the opposition, are now lawmakers in the present government.
"The appellants, being lawmakers from the government side in Parliament, are not permitted to abdicate their responsibility by subordinating the plenary power of the legislature to judicial exercise,” he said.
Liew also requested that Hassan and Abdul Aziz’s judicial review be heard together with two other pending cases before the High Court involving the Malaysian Bar and Bersih 2.0, also challenging the proclamation.
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Lawyer Datuk Gurdial Singh Nijar did not object to remitting the matter to the High Court to proceed with the judicial review.
On May 2, 2022, the Federal Court had, in a majority decision, granted the duo leave to appeal.
They had raised two questions of law regarding the validity of decisions made under Article 150 of the Federal Constitution on the emergency proclamation, as announced by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which cannot be adjudicated in the courts.
The Court of Appeal dismissed their appeals on Nov 24, 2021.
In their judicial review, the duo sought a court declaration that the decision by the Cabinet, led by Muhyiddin, to advise the then 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah to promulgate Section 14 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021, which had resulted in the suspension of Parliament, is unconstitutional, unlawful, has no effect and is ultra vires. – Bernama
