PUTRAJAYA, Aug 26 — The Court of Appeal will only hear on September 7 Tan Sri Musa Aman and 32 other Sabah assemblymen’s challenge against the dismissal of their bid for judicial review of the state assembly’s dissolution.
The Election Commission has already set September 12 for nomination and September 26 for polling in the premature state election.
The hearing date was proposed by both sides after they said they needed more time to submit the relevant documents and affidavits, which the three-judge bench headed by Datuk Yaakob Md Sam accepted
“We’ll fix September 7, 2020, as a hearing date for the judicial review and also, for the stay application which will be fixed on the same day on September 7 for all parties to submit their course papers,” said Yaakob
The other judges on the bench were Datuk P. Ravinthran and Datuk Ahmad Nasfy Yasin.
Aside from the appeal, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Tengku Fuad Ahmad, said they were also seeking for a stay of the government’s gazette of the dissolution and proclamation of election.
The respondents in the suit, namely Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin, caretaker minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, and the state government were represented by Sabah Attorney General Brenndon Keith Soh, Dayangku Fazidah, and Chee Chun Yen
The Election Commission as the fourth respondent in the suit was represented by senior federal counsel Suzana Atan and S. Narkunavathy.
Musa and the other Sabah lawmakers applied for judicial review of Juhar’s consent for the dissolution of the state assembly, alleging the latter was wrongly advised on the matter.
This is in relation to caretaker minister Shafie’s advice to Juhar that triggered the dissolution on the State Legislative Assembly on July 30, paving the way for a statewide election.
Last week, the High Court dismissed the application when concluding that it was Juhar’s prerogative as the head of state to give his consent for the dissolution and that such decisions were outside of the judiciary’s ambit.
