Sabah govt joins SLS suit against Federal Govt over 40% revenue non payment

KOTA KINABALU: The High Court here granted the Sabah Law Society's (SLS) application for leave for judicial review against the Federal Government's failure to conduct a review of the 40% special grant due to Sabah under the Constitution.

High Court judge Datuk Ismail Brahim found that SLS had locus standi to apply for judicial review as it was a public interest litigation.

Justice Ismail also found that SLS's case was for the breach of the constitutional duty to pay the 40% entitlement for the Lost Years (1974 to 2021) which is a "justiciable" (a matter that can be decided for legal principles by a court).

According to SLS president the review order was "justiciable" as SLS was not challenging the contents of the Federal Constitution.

"The court has the power to interpret the Federal Constitution to determine if there is a breach of the constitutional duty to pay the 40% entitlement.

"The application is for a public remedy to address any breach. We have presented an arguable case," Chin said after the High Court sitting Friday (Nov 11).

He said the High Court had set Dec 16 to give further directions for the hearing of the substance of the judicial review.

The Federal Attorney General's Chambers, represented by Susanna Attan, argued that matters concerning the Sabah Special Grant were non-justiciable and could not be brought to court in the event of a dispute.

SLS is represented by Dr. David Fung and Jayen Marimuthu.

In court Friday (Nov 11), in supporting the SLS suit, Sabah government had also been included as a second respondent to the judicial review application.

Representing the state government, lawyer Datuk Fuad Tengku Ahmad said that the state government joined the action to make sure that the Federal Government was accountable for all the years (since 1974) that it failed to pay the 40% grant to the state government.

He said that the 2022 Special Annual Grant signed between the state and the Federal Government should not be mixed up with the constitutional requirement of the Federal Government to the state.

"Sabah government joined the SLS action to make sure the federal government is accountable for all the years it failed to pay the state.

"As party to the suit, the state government interest and position on the matter can be argued and the Federal Government must disclose to Sabah the exact revenue derived from Sabah which will be the basis of the 40% revenue return negotiations," he added.

"The issue is not whether the 2022 Special Grant Order between the Federal and state government.

"This judicial review seeks redress (compensation) for the Federal Government's failure to conduct a review of Sabah's 40% Special Grant which is a breach of Articles 112C and 112D of the Federal Constitution," Fuad said.

In its suit, the SLS alleged that (1) it was breach of the Federal Constitution for the Federal Government to have failed to conduct a review every five years starting in 1974 and (2) that the Federal Government was obliged to pay to Sabah 40% of Federal revenues derived from the State in each of the intervening years since 1974.

"This is a very important case for Sabah. The Federal Government must honour its revenue sharing obligations to Sabah under the Federal Constitution and be transparent about how much revenue it takes from the State each year.

"This judicial review will make clear that the Federal Government is answerable under the law if it acts in breach of its Constitutional obligations to Sabah" added.