PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision in a stay application of committal proceedings involving six individuals, including three Negri Sembilan Undang, who are appealing the Seremban High Court's decision in granting leave for the committal proceedings to be initiated against them.
A three-judge panel, chaired by Justice Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab, set Sept 14 for case management via e-review to fix the date to deliver the decision on whether the stay should be granted or otherwise.
"The ad interim stay (dated July 29) is extended until the decision," Justice Alwi said here on Monday (Sept 7).
(A different three-judge panel of the appellate court had granted an ad interim stay on July 29 pending today's hearing on the stay application.)
The six are former Undang Luak Sungai Ujong Datuk Mubarak Thahak, Undang Luak Jelebu Datuk Maarof Mat Rashad, Undang Luak Johol Datuk Muhammed Abdullah, Undang Luak Rembau Datuk Abdul Rahim Yasin, Tunku Besar Tampin Tunku Syed Razman Tunku Syed Idrus Al-Qadri, and Shahbandar Sungai Ujong Datuk Seri Badarudin Abdul Khalid.
If the stay was granted, the men would be able to argue their case against the leave that was given for committal proceedings to proceed against them.
In the event that the stay was not granted, the men would have to face committal proceedings at the Seremban High Court.
The committal proceedings arise from allegations that the six men had breached an ad interim injunction order issued by the High Court on June 5.
Other judges on the panel were Justices Dr Shahnaz Sulaiman and Amarjeet Singh.
Earlier, lawyer Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud who represented the appellants, argued that the appeal on the leave application would be nugatory if the stay was not granted.
He said there were important legal issues, specifically which court has the jurisdiction to hear injunction and committal matters in this case; whether it was the Special Court or the High Court.
(The Special Court refers to a specialised court to try cases involving the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the Ruler of a State in their personal capacities.)
Awang Armadajaya said if the jurisdiction lies within the Special Court, this would render all proceedings at the High Court to be invalid.
Meanwhile, the respondents' lawyer Steven Thiru, who appeared for the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang Negeri Sembilan (DKU) and its secretary Raja Norazli Raja Nordin, said that the committal proceedings at the High Court should be allowed to proceed without delay, in accordance with the settled principle that once contempt proceedings have been commenced, the proceedings should be given priority over all other proceedings.
The legal dispute began on May 5, when Mubarak and five others filed an originating summons at the Seremban High Court to obtain a copy of the minutes of a special DKU meeting held on April 17.
Among the contents of the meeting minutes was a decision to remove Mubarak as Undang Luak Sungai Ujong.
On June 5, the High Court granted an ad interim injunction to preserve the status quo, maintaining the existing composition of the DKU and Raja Norazli's position as its secretary, pending the determination of issues relating to jurisdiction and justiciability, or until further order of the court.
However, Raja Norazli claimed that media reports on the same day showed that the plaintiffs, particularly Maarof, had been involved in the purported appointment of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan under Article 11 of the Negeri Sembilan State Constitution 1959, despite the injunction order still being in force.
He alleged that the appointment was made in defiance of the court order, prompting the DKU and Raja Norazli to seek leave from the High Court to commence committal proceedings against the six individuals for contempt of court.
High Court judge Justice Roz Mawar Rozain ruled that there was a prima facie case against them and ordered them to answer the committal application. She also dismissed their application for a stay of committal proceedings pending the disposal of their appeal.
On July 8, the six men filed appeals against Roz Mawar's decision. On July 29, they were granted an ad interim stay on the committal proceedings pending the hearing of their stay application, which was heard today.
