First 'super Bench' of nine judges decides Bank Negara council supercedes civil courts on syariah matters

 PUTRAJAYA: In an unprecedented move, a nine-man Federal Court Bench handed down a landmark majority judgment that any decision by Bank Negara's Syariah Advisory Council (SAC) on Islamic finance is constitutional and binding on civil courts even though the Council is not a judicial body.

The nine-man super Bench is the first in the nation's history, but the landmark decision was a narrow 5-4 decision.