KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): The former Negeri Sembilan Undangs' court case linked to the ongoing power tussle in the state will now be battled out solely in the Seremban High Court.
This comes after the quartet — Datuk Mubarak Thahak (whose status as the Undang for Sungai Ujong is under dispute), Datuk Maarof Mat Rashid (the removed Undang for Jelebu), Datuk Abd Rahim Yasin (the removed Undang for Rembau), and Datuk Muhammed Abdullah (the present Undang for Johol) — withdrew their application to commence a judicial review (JR) in the Kuala Lumpur High Court, which they had filed in July.
The court was informed of this during proceedings in-chambers on Wednesday before High Court judge Norliza Othman.
Speaking to reporters following the proceedings, lawyer Steven Thiru — appearing for Dewan Keadilan dan Undang (DKU) and its secretary Raja Norazli Raja Nordin, who are two of the four proposed interveners — said that the applicant had applied to withdraw without cost, which the Attorney General's Chambers did not object to.
However, he added that while not objecting to the withdrawal, the four proposed interveners — the DKU, Secretary of the DKU, the Undang for Sg Ujong, and the Undang for Rembau — sought cost on the basis that the withdrawal of the JR meant that it had no merits.
"Importantly, the JR in the KL High Court was [an] abuse of process, because the applicants had not disclosed in their JR application in KL High Court the pending proceedings in the Seremban High Court that the applicants had commenced with two others, the injunction order of June 5, and the leave for committal order of July 8.
"This was a clear case of forum shopping as well as suppression of material facts from the [KL High Court]," he said.
He added that the court had then ordered the applicants to pay costs of RM10,000 each to all the proposed interveners. The application was withdrawn with no liberty to file afresh.
The four, along with two others — Tunku Besar Tampin Tunku Syed Razman Tunku Syed Idrus Al Qadri and Datuk Seri Badarudin Abdul Khalid (Datuk Shahbandar Sungai Ujong) — had already filed an originating summons over similar issues at the Seremban High Court in May.
Previously in August, Norliza had asked the four chieftains' counsel, Mohd Khairul Azam Aziz, whether they wanted to continue to hear their JR in KL or have it transferred to Seremban. She then set Oct 7 for the court to be updated.
In the KL JR, the applicants had named the Negeri Sembilan menteri besar and the state government as respondents.
They are seeking an order to compel the Negeri Sembilan menteri besar to sign their proclamation document to remove the current Yang di-Pertuan Besar Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir as the state’s ruler, and a further proclamation that Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Jaafar is the 12th Yang di-Pertuan Besar.
Meanwhile, at the Seremban High Court, presiding judge Roz Mawar Rozain had on July 8 granted leave for a committal hearing against the six applicants following the purported violation of a temporary injunction in holding a DKU meeting or events and participating in the installation of Tunku Nadzaruddin last June 5.
However, the committal proceedings, which were scheduled for July 28, have been stayed pending their appeal over Roz Mawar’s July 8 decision, which currently remains at the Court of Appeal.