The Sabah Law Society (SLS) can now proceed with its judicial review in the case concerning the state's entitlement to 40 per cent of federal revenue earned from the state.
The Court of Appeal has dismissed the attorney-general's (A-G) appeal against the leave granted for the SLS's judicial review.
Court of Appeal justices Datuk Ravinthran N. Paramaguru, Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali and Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing unanimously dismissed the appeal. The decision was delivered via Zoom today.
The appeal was dismissed with no order as to costs.
In the decision, the court highlighted two main issues — locus standi and justiciability.
On the locus standi, the court said the SLS had, at the very least, established threshold locus standi in the case.
"SLS' judicial review application, based on the discussion in the three previous cases, is clearly a public interest litigation taken for the benefit of a section of the public.
"It is not taken to seek redress for a personal wrong or grievance of the SLS.
"And the issue sought to be addressed in the judicial review application involves a matter of high constitutional importance no less.
"It is taken to purportedly vindicate a constitutional right accorded to the State of Sabah and therefore by extension, for the benefit of the people of Sabah.
"Whether there is merit in this application or otherwise, is a matter that should be addressed in the full hearing.
"It may well be that at the end of the full hearing, the High Court may review the finding of threshold locus standing and may not grant relief on substantive examination of the matter."
On justiciability, the court said at this stage, it cannot be said that the subject matter of the judicial review application is not justiciable.
"Counsel for the SLS pointed out that in the prayers of the judicial review application, the SLS is not challenging the lawfulness of the special grant.
"If that were the case, it would immediately attract the justiciability argument as it is a matter agreed by the federal government and the Sabah government.
"Neither is the SLS asking the court to conduct a review under Article 112D. A prayer to that effect would also attract the justiciability argument as the court is not equipped to handle such a matter.
"The overarching focus of the judicial review application is the alleged omission in the Review Order 2022 to account for the missing 'lost years'.
"The learned High Court judge thought that this is a matter of interpretation to be decided in a full hearing and we find that we cannot disagree with him."
In conclusion, the court said, the two main issues raised by the learned senior federal counsel lack merit given the factual and legal matrix of this unprecedented judicial review application.
"In the premises, we unanimously dismiss the appeal. If this matter is not taken up further by the appellant, we direct the High Court to fix a date for the full hearing of the judicial review application. No order as to costs," said Ravinthran.
On Nov 11, 2022, the Kota Kinabalu High Court granted SLS leave for its judicial review on the state's entitlement to 40 per cent of federal revenue earned from the state.
The A-G appealed the decision and obtained a stay on proceedings in the High Court.
On May 24, the Court of Appeal fixed today for the decision. ()
In a statement, SLS immediate past president Datuk Roger Chin said while the legal journey is still long, the first hurdle of judicial review has been crossed.
"We can now proceed to the substantive hearing. SLS may provide further explanations on the Court of Appeal's decision and outline the steps ahead as the case proceeds through the court's due process, as and when the need arises, for the benefit of the public."