Photo by Zahid Izzani/The Edge

PUTRAJAYA (June 18): The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed an appeal by the federal government against the leave granted to the Sabah Law Society (SLS) for a judicial review of the state's demand for 40% revenue entitlement.

All three Court of Appeal judges — Datuk Ravinthran N Paramaguru, Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, and Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing — dismissed the federal government's appeal to quash the judicial review.

The case now will go back to the High Court for hearing of the merits of the judicial review. The High Court has also set case management for June 21.

In judicial reviews, a petitioner has to apply for and obtain leave, or permission, from the court before the merits of the judicial review application are heard.

The federal government was appealing against the Kota Kinabalu High Court's decision on Nov 11, 2022 to grant leave for the SLS to pursue a judicial review that seeks to compel the return of 40% of federal revenue earned from the state according to the Federal Constitution.

Senior federal counsels from the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) — Shamsul Bolhassan and Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi — as well as federal counsels V Krishna Priya @ Venugopal and Fazriel Fardiansyah Abdul Kadir acted for the government.

The SLS, a statutory body that represents lawyers practising in Sabah, was represented by counsels Dr David Fung and Jeyan TM Marimuttu in the decision delivered via videoconferencing.

On Nov 11, 2022, judge Datuk Ismail Brahim granted the SLS' application for leave for a judicial review, ruling that the law society had locus standi as the matter was a public interest litigation.

The AGC then obtained a stay order to stop the High Court from hearing the merits of the case pending the appeal.

The SLS filed the judicial review application in 2022, to overturn the federal government’s gazette of a RM125.6 million annual grant for Sabah, claiming that it violated the state's revenue rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.