KUALA LUMPUR: The Undang of Johol and three other ruling chiefs whose positions are in dispute have withdrawn an application for a writ of mandamus demanding that the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar signs a proclamation of abdication of Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir.
The four, including the former Undang of Sungei Ujong, Rembau and Jelebu, filed the judicial review application on July 17 to compel the Mentri Besar to sign a declaration to remove Tuanku Muhriz as the Yang di-Pertuan Besar within seven days, naming the Mentri Besar and the state government as respondents.
Judge Norliza Othman on Wednesday (Oct 7) allowed the withdrawal after lawyer Azam Aziz told the court that he had been instructed to discontinue the application.
Senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan, who appeared for the Attorney General, did not object to the withdrawal.
Emirul Sarifudin Nor Azmi, the other lawyer representing the four, said the group decided to withdraw the writ as the Mentri Besar had already signed the proclamation of abdication of Tuanku Muhriz on Aug 3.
"Therefore, the application for mandamus is no longer necessary and has become academic as the demands have been fulfilled.
"The proclamation of abdication has also been perfected and endorsed by the state government through a collective decision of the state executive council on Sept 15," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
He said the state government, through the Mentri Besar, had also submitted an official letter on the matter to the Council of Rulers on Sept 21.
"As such, there is no longer any need to proceed with the mandamus as the demands have been settled and the Mentri Besar has already executed his constitutional duties pursuant to Article 10(2) of the Laws of the Constitution of Negri Sembilan 1959," he said.
Lawyer Steven Thiru, who represented two proposed interveners – the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang, its secretary Raja Norazli Raja Nordin – and lawyers for two other interveners, the Undang of Sungei Ujong and Undang of Rembau, said they had no objection to the withdrawal.
However, they sought costs on the grounds that the withdrawal of the judicial review meant that it had no merit.
"Importantly, the judicial review of the Kuala Lumpur High Court was an abuse of process because the applicants did not disclose in their application the pending proceedings at the Seremban High Court.
"This was a clear case of forum shopping as well as suppression of material facts from the Kuala Lumpur High Court," he said when contacted later.
Thiru said the court also ordered the applicants to pay a total cost of RM40,000 to the four proposed interveners without liberty to file another judicial review application.
