PUTRAJAYA (July 24): A challenge by two lawmakers over the 2021 emergency proclamation due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the legislation passed during that period has been sent back to the High Court.

A five member panel at the Federal Court, led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, ruled on July 22 that the issues raised by Pasir Gudang Member of Parliament (MP) Hassan Karim (PKR) and Tebing Tinggi assemblyman Abdul Aziz Bari (DAP) met the threshold for the judicial review to be heard.

In the unanimous decision, the panel said that the matter ought to fully ventilated at the High Court. However, the justices stressed that they are not answering any constitutional questions, including the validity of decisions made under Article 150, at this juncture.

Article 150 of the Federal Constitution concerns matters in relation to proclamation of emergency.

The others on the bench on Monday were Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan, Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang.

Abdul Aziz – formerly a law lecturer at the International Islamic University Malaysia specialising in constitutional law – and Hassan Karim had failed to get leave for their respective judicial review applications in early 2021. They had named then-prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the government as respondents.

The then-Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, had consented to Muhyiddin’s advice to declare the emergency proclamation on Jan 12, 2021, in order to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. The emergency orders were later revoked in October 2022.

Initially, now-Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, now-Dewan Rakyat Speaker and former Sungai Petani MP Tan Sri Johari Abdul Ghani (PKR), and former Pulai MP the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub (Amanah), were also part of this legal action against the government, but then withdrew their applications. Salahuddin passed away in July last year.

The matter will now be heard before High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid. Ahmad Kamal is also presiding over similar legal challenges on the same issue by the Bar Council and a group of non-governmental organisations.

The two cases were also recently reverted back for a full ventilation of their merits.

Senior lawyer Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar appeared along with Christopher Leong for the appellants on Monday. Senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin appeared for the respondents.