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PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): The President of the PKR, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, succeeded on Thursday (September 10) in his request to review a majority decision of the Federal Court to refuse to answer legal questions on the constitutionality of the National Security Council Law. (NSCA) of 2016.
A seven-member bench led by Federal Court Judge Datuk Abdul Rahman Sebli, in a unanimous decision, allowed Anwar’s request for review to overturn the majority verdict on February 11.
The court therefore ordered that the case be reviewed in Federal Court.
Judge Abdul Rahman said that the court’s jurisdiction under Rule 137 of the 1995 Federal Court Rules was extremely limited and was only exercised in very exceptional circumstances.
“However, after giving it the utmost consideration, we consider this to be an appropriate and appropriate case for the court to exercise its discretion in favor of allowing the request,” he said.
The other presiding judges were Federal Court Judges Puan Sri Zaleha Yusof, Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof, Datuk Seri Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang.
In his application filed in March this year, Anwar, as a plaintiff, claimed that a grave injustice had occurred following the court’s decision not to answer his constitutional questions.
He said that the government, as a defendant in the case, had taken the position that his (Anwar’s) lawsuit in High Court should be dismissed without being heard.
In serving the motion, he said there was also a serious violation of natural justice, as he was not granted the right to be heard on the question of whether the constitutional issues raised were abstract, academic, and hypothetical.
The Port Dickson MP said the majority had decided based on an issue that was never raised by the government.
Anwar wanted the Federal Court to set aside the majority verdict and issue an order deemed appropriate and fair.
On February 11, the Federal Court in a 5-2 majority verdict declined to answer the constitutional questions posed by Anwar about the NSCA.
Federal Court Judge Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan, who issued the majority decision, held that the existence of the NSCA had not been shown to have interfered with Anwar’s personal life.
He ordered that the case be referred to the Superior Court for filing.
In addition to Judge Nallini, the other judges who decided the majority decision were Malaya Chief Judge Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed, Federal Court Judge Datuk Mohd Zawawi Salleh, and then-Federal Court Judge Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim (now Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak) and Tan Sri Idrus Harun (now Attorney General).
The minority decision of Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and then Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri David Wong Dak Wah (now retired) held that the NSCA was unconstitutional.
Anwar had filed the original subpoena in 2016 to challenge the constitutionality of the NSCA, claiming that its implementation was unconstitutional. He named the National Security Council and the government as defendants.
On March 14 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court allowed Anwar’s application under Section 84 of the Judicial Courts Act of 1964 to refer the matter to the Federal Court for determination of four constitutional issues.
Earlier, Anwar’s lawyer, Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram, argued that there was a violation of natural justice in this case that empowered the court to overturn the majority decision of the Federal Court.
“The applicant (Anwar) must be heard on the question of whether the constitutional issues are academic or a live issue to be determined by this court,” he said.
Lead federal attorney Suzana Atan alleged that the plaintiff had not established any circumstances that could be considered by the court to allow a review of that decision pursuant to Rule 137 of the 1995 Federal Court Rules.
“This request for review is clearly unfounded and should be dismissed at cost,” he said. – Bernama
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