[UPDATED] Federal Court rules S’gor cannot give shariah court fatwa review powers

KUALA LUMPUR – The Federal Court has unanimously declared that the Selangor assembly has no authority to legislate an enactment that gives the state Shariah High Court power to review a fatwa issued by state religious authorities.

Chief justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who headed the nine-judge panel, stated that Section 66A of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003 goes against the federal constitution.

“I find Section 66A unconstitutional and void as it is a provision the Selangor state legislative assembly has no power to make,” the judge said in the decision delivered online through the video-conferencing platform Zoom today.

Tengku Maimun also said that the Federal Court had already decided that the power of judicial review is uniquely held by and to be exercised only by the civil courts, as decided in previous cases.

SIS filed the application in the Federal Court on Jan 21, 2020, naming the Selangor government as respondent after the high court in Kuala Lumpur dismissed its judicial review application against a Selangor religious authority’s fatwa labelling the group as deviant in 2019.

On October 12 last year, the bench, led by Tengku Maimun, reserved the court’s decision after lawyers representing SIS and the Selangor government completed their submissions in the case.

The bench had heard submission from lawyer Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, who appeared for SIS, and also by Selangor state legal adviser Datuk Salim Soib @ Hamid, who acted for the Selangor government, as well as from lawyers Zainur Zakaria and Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais), which was allowed to intervene in the case.

The other judges on the bench were Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf, Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and Federal Court judges Datuk Seri Mohd Zawawi Salleh, Datuk Vernon Ong Lam Kiat, Puan Sri Zaleha Yusof, Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang.

On September 22 last year, the Federal Court granted SIS leave to pursue its legal challenge in the Federal Court through Article 4(4) of the federal constitution.

SIS sought leave to commence the challenge seeking to declare as invalid Section 66A of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003, which states that the shariah high court may, in the interest of justice, on the application of any person, have the jurisdiction to grant permission and hear the application for judicial review on the decision made by the council or committees carrying out the functions under the enactment. – The Vibes, February 21, 2022