Court of Appeal to set same date for decision on emergency-linked appeals

The Court of Appeal will decide on the same day the appeals by Anwar Ibrahim and four other opposition lawmakers over the validity of then premier Muhyiddin Yassin’s royal advice for suspension of Parliament during the emergency.

As a result, the three-person bench today vacated the previously set Sept 30 decision date for the appeals by Pulai MP Salahuddin Ayub, Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul, Tebing Tinggi assemblyperson Abdul Aziz Bari and Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim.

The bench chaired by judge Has Zanah Mehat today ruled that it will set a date later to simultaneously deliver its decision on the appeals by opposition leader and Port Dickson MP Anwar, as well the other two appeals: one by Salahuddin, Johari and Aziz; and the other by Hassan.

The Court of Appeal today was hearing submissions from Anwar’s lawyers and senior federal counsel from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) over the lawmaker’s appeal to obtain leave to commence judicial review targeting the validity of Muhyiddin’s advice to the Agong.

“This (Anwar’s) appeal more or less raises substantive issues that are also raised in other appeals where we were supposed to give a decision on Sept 30.

“But looking at this (Anwar's) appeal, we may need to look at all the appeals from Hassan Karim and Salehuddin Ayub.

“We think the three appeals should be looked at together because the background facts are more or less the same. So we need to decide on the appeal on the same date,” Has Zanah said.

The other members of the Court of Appeal bench are Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera and Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim.

The Court of Appeal then fixed tomorrow for online case management to set a common date for decision on all three appeals.

Previously, Anwar, Hassan as well as Salahuddin, Johari and Aziz, have filed three separate but similar legal challenges against Muhyiddin’s royal advice for the suspension of Parliament during the Emergency.

The three legal actions had targeted the validity of the decision of the then Muhyiddin-led cabinet, to advise His Majesty to promulgate Section 14 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021.

However, three separate High Courts gave unfavourable rulings to the legal actions by Anwar, Hassan as well as Salahuddin, Johari and Aziz.

The High Court had agreed with submissions from the AGC that Articles 150(6) and 150(8) of the Federal Constitution ousted the courts from having jurisdiction to hear legal challenges linked to the Agong's proclamation of emergency.