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PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court today granted permission to the women’s rights group Sisters in Islam (SIS) to challenge the competence of the Selangor state assembly to pass a law allowing the state’s Syariah High Court to review fatwas issued by the state religious authorities.
Judge Zabariah Mohd Yusof, who sat as sole judge, said the license application met the requirement of Article 4 (3) of the Federal Constitution.
Article 4 (4) states that authorization for such matters can be obtained from a single judge as long as the applicant can prove to the court that he is not frivolous.
SIS Forum (Malaysia) had filed the challenge on the grounds that the state legislature cannot pass Section 66A of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Selangor State) Act 2003.
Article 66A establishes that the High Court of the Syariah of Selangor has jurisdiction to hear judicial reviews of the decisions of the state religious councils or committees.
However, the plaintiff argued that any judicial review of a law passed by Parliament and state assemblies could only be heard before a civil Superior Court.
SIS Forum filed the application in Federal Court on January 21 after the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed its request for judicial review against the fatwa of a Selangor religious authority that labeled the group as deviant last year.
Citing Section 66A, the Superior Court Judge Nordin Hassan had ruled that it was the exclusive competence of the Selangor Syariah Court to determine legal challenges against a fatwa issued by a state religious committee.
There is an appeal pending in the Court of Appeal to overturn Nordin’s decision.
Lawyers Fahri Izzat and A Surenthra Ananth appeared today for the SIS Forum, while state legal counsel Salim Soib represented the Selangor government.
Surenthra said that after today’s decision, SIS Forum had two weeks to file its appeal petition, while the state would have two weeks to present its defense.
“Assuming there are no interlocutory requests, the court will set a date to know the merits of the challenge,” he told reporters.
FMT understands that the Selangor Islamic Religious Council will likely request to intervene in the lawsuit since the SIS Forum obtained authorization.
