PUTRAJAYA, Oct 20 — PAS cannot table any private member’s Bill to seek legal amendments that would effectively allow the enforcement of hudud in Kelantan as a related lawsuit remains unresolved, the Islamist party secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said today.

Takiyuddin, who is also a lawyer, explained that this meant that federal lawmakers would not be able to discuss such a Bill in Parliament.

“We believe that we cannot table the private member’s Bill at the moment because the case relating to the same is still pending in court.

“So even if we manage to table it or manage to file the motion in Parliament, it cannot be debated because it is sub judice, the matter is still pending in court,” he told reporters here.

He was referring to a bid by four individuals to get a court injunction to block PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang from tabling a private member’s Bill to remove the legal barriers preventing PAS from enforcing the Islamic penal code in Kelantan.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court is set to deliver its decision on November 9 on whether Hadi will be allowed to strike out that lawsuit against him.

Last Saturday, Hadi himself told reporters that he has not submitted a fresh private member’s bill on hudud for this year’s last parliamentary meeting as he is awaiting the outcome of the legal bid to prevent him from doing so.

The lawsuit that was filed in June by the four individuals - Mansoor Saat, Azira Aziz, Hasbeemaputra Abu Bakar and Hazwany Jamaluddin - also seeks to prevent federal lawmakers from discussing any Bills related to hudud.

The four named Hadi, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Mulia Amin, Deputy Speakers Datuk Ronald Kiandee and Datuk Ismail Mohamad Said as well as Dewan Rakyat Secretary Datuk Roosme Hamzah as respondents in their application.

Hadi submitted his private member’s Bill twice earlier this year, but was unable to have it debated in Parliament during the last two meetings ostensibly due to a lack of time.

He had sought to amend the Shariah Court Act (Criminal Jurisdiction) 1965 or Act 355, which currently only allows the Shariah courts to mete out punishments limited to RM3,000 fine, five years’ jail and six strokes of caning.

Both Kelantan and Terengganu have state laws on hudud, but the Islamic penal code cannot be enforced in these states as the punishments are far more severe than what Shariah courts can impose.

Takiyuddin confirmed today that there are currently only two court cases relating to hudud, namely the one involving Hadi and a separate one where the Federal Court dismissed today three Gerakan members’ attempt to challenge the Kelantan government’s hudud law’s constitutionality.