KUALA LUMPUR: The Undang of Johol and three other ruling chiefs, whose positions are in dispute, have withdrawn their application at the High Court here, demanding that the Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar sign a proclamation of abdication of state Ruler Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir.
The four, including the former Undang Sungei Ujong, Undang Rembau and Undang Jelebu, had filed the judicial review application on July 17 for a writ of mandamus to compel the Mentri Besar to sign a declaration to remove Tuanku Muhriz as the Yang di-Pertuan Besar within seven days.
They had named the Mentri Besar and the state government as respondents.
Judge Norliza Othman allowed the withdrawal after lawyer Azam Aziz told the court that he had been instructed to discontinue the application.
Senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan did not object.
Emirul Sarifudin Nor Azmi, the other lawyer representing the four, said the group decided to withdraw the application for the mandamus order, as the Mentri Besar had already signed the proclamation of abdication of Tuanku Muhriz on Aug 3.
“Therefore, the application is now considered academic because the demands have been fulfilled,” Emirul Sarifudin said.
He said the state government, through the Mentri Besar, had also submitted an official letter regarding the matter to the Council of Rulers on Sept 21.
Lawyer Steven Thiru, who represented the four proposed interveners – the Dewan Keadilan dan Undang, its secretary Raja Norazli Raja Nordin and 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.
