KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has fixed April 29 for decision in a judicial review filed by two MPs and two others challenging the advice by former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend Parliament during the Covid-19 pandemic five years ago.
Justice Aliza Sulaiman set the date after hearing submissions from parties here on Friday (Jan 9).
The judicial review applications were filed separately by Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim and Perak assemblyman Abdul Aziz Bari.
Justice Aliza also fixed the same date to decide on two originating summons filed separately by the Malaysian Bar and NGO Bersih, on the same subject matter.
Earlier the court heard from Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar, who represented Hassan and Abdul Aziz, that the government had breached mandatory provisions under Article 150(3) and Article 150(5) of the Federal Constitution, which required emergency ordinances to be debated before the Parliament.
"The requirement is mandatory that it shall be laid before the houses of Parliament and it is for the Parliament to decide.
"These two provisions highlight the central and crucial position of the Parliament as the august House that represents the will of the people," he said.
Failing to adhere to the provisions, he said, meant that the government was in violation of Article 150(3) and Article 150(5).
Gurdial said the ordinances were presented at the Parliament after the Emergency had lapsed in August 2021, effectively bypassing Parliament and suspending its legislative functions.
Meanwhile, Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, who appeared for the government and Muhyiddin, said that any alleged constitutional breaches had been addressed and retrospectively rectified by the legislature.
He said the impugned ordinances had already been debated and revoked by the Parliament on Oct 25, 2021.
Shamsul also said that the mandamus orders sought by the applicants against Muhyiddin were a "legal impossibility" following his resignation as prime minister on Aug 16, 2021.
"In short, it is submitted that the relevance of the remedies and reliefs sought by the applicants had been overtaken by events," he added.
On July 24, 2024, the Federal Court granted leave to Hassan and Abdul Aziz to begin a judicial review challenging Muhyiddin's advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to suspend Parliament during the Covid-19 pandemic through an emergency proclamation.
The case was remitted back to the High Court for the hearing of the substantive applications.
In their judicial review, the duo sought a court declaration that the decision by the Cabinet, led by Muhyiddin, to advise the then 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah to promulgate Section 14 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021, which had resulted in the suspension of Parliament, is unconstitutional, unlawful, has no effect and is ultra vires.
