SEREMBAN: The High Court here has granted the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) and its secretary leave to initiate committal proceedings for contempt of court against two Undang, two former Undang, and two others for allegedly breaching ad-interim injunction orders.
Justice Roz Mawar Rozain ruled that a prima facie case was established regarding the alleged appointment of a new Yang di-Pertuan Besar on June 5, with the substantive hearing scheduled for July 28.
She delivered her judgement online on Wednesday (July 8) after hearing applications from parties over two days.
In her judgment, Justice Roz Mawar ruled that DKU secretary Raja Norazli Raja Nordin and the DKU, as the first and second defendants, had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case for leave to commence committal proceedings for contempt of court against the six plaintiffs for alleged contravention of the court's ad-interim injunction orders dated June 5.
The six are the Undang of Johol Datuk Muhammed Abdullah, Undang of Jelebu Datuk Maarof Mat Rashid, former Undang of Sungei Ujong Datuk Mubarak Dohak, former Undang of Rembau Datuk Abdul Rahim Yasin, Tunku Besar Tampin Tunku Syed Razman Tunku Syed Idrus Al-Qadri and Datuk Syahbandar Sungei Ujong Datuk Seri Badarudin Abdul Khalid.
(Mubarak and Abdul Rahim are, however, challenging their removal as Undang.)
Raja Norazli and the DKU had filed an application to institute contempt of court proceedings over the alleged injunction breach that saw the six involved in the appointment of a new Yang di-Pertuan Besar at a hotel in Alor Gajah, Melaka on June 5 after they had obtained the ad-interim injunction orders.
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The orders had, among others, stated that the six were prevented from convening or participating in any meeting of, or calling itself as a meeting of, the DKU – including a special sitting on June 5 which they had announced via a joint media statement dated May 29 – until an ongoing court proceeding is heard in full.
They were also barred from establishing, appointing, authorising or empowering any further committee, person, or body, or to act through any committee, person or body purportedly already established, to undertake, exercise or assume the powers, functions, duties and responsibilities of the secretary of the DKU.
This included taking any steps, making any decisions and/or implementing any decisions concerning the administration, governance, proceedings, authority and affairs of the DKU.
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They were also not allowed to take any steps to alter, affect or interfere with the status quo relating to the administration, governance, proceedings and affairs of the DKU as it stood immediately prior to May 21, which was the day when they issued a document ordering Raja Norazli to call for a special meeting of the DKU.
Justice Roz Mawar also refused the application by the plaintiffs for a stay of the committal proceedings for contempt of court.
Steven Thiru, Mohd Shafrin Abd Halim and Gurjeevan Singh Sachdev appeared for Raja Norazli and the DKU while Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, Datuk Mohammed Rhiza Ghazi, Datuk Firoz Hussein, Woo J Enn, Asmawi Ismail and Emirul Sarifudin Nor Azmi appeared for the six.
