Apex court nays church's bid for bigger panel
Hafiz YatimPublished: Jan 21, 2015 10:30 AM | Updated: Jan 21, 2015 5:41 PM
The Federal Court, which is hearing the review bid of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, today dismissed the church's application for an enlarged bench of either seven or nine judges.
UPDATED 5.25PM
The Church sought either seven or nine judges to hear its appeal.
The Federal Court, which is hearing the review bid of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, today dismissed the church's application for an enlarged bench of either seven or nine judges.
The archbishop's legal team head Cyrus Das said it was not appropriate for a five-member bench to review the decision of the previous panel, which consisted of seven judges.
"This is to avoid public perception which they may have as this is a public interest case. Any review should be done by a larger panel," he said.
Cyrus said normally a larger bench sits in review cases, and since the previous decision in not granting leave (permission) was made by a seven-member bench, the court should impose a higher number of judges.
The senior counsel warned that the court should not be seen as dooming this review for failure due to the incapacity of a smaller bench.
"A decision made by three judges at the Court of Appeal could be over ruled by five judges which in turn was overruled by a seven-member bench," Cyrus argued.
He further submitted that a smaller bench cannot dissent in law of decisions made by a larger bench.
However, Federal Court judge Abdull Hamid Embong, who is heading the five-member all-Muslim panel hearing the review, dismissed the application, saying Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria had rejected the church's application yesterday.
'Panel cannot go against Chief Justice'
"This panel cannot go against the CJ who is empowered to form the panel to hear a case.
"Furthermore, your complaint is on the majority judgment which is made by four judges. Hence, this panel of five judges is equipped to hear this application," Justice Abdull Hamid said.
The Catholic Church filed the review application against the 4-3 judgment of seven-member Federal Court panel on June 23 last year dismissing the church's application for leave to proceed with its appeal.
The church is seeking leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision delivered on Oct 14, 2013, which allowed the government's appeal to overturn the 2009 High Court decision that the Herald could use the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section.
The High Court had ruled that the decision by the Home Ministry in banning the Herald from using ‘Allah’ was illegal.
The archbishop's legal team head Cyrus Das said it was not appropriate for a five-member bench to review the decision of the previous panel, which consisted of seven judges.
"This is to avoid public perception which they may have as this is a public interest case. Any review should be done by a larger panel," he said.
Cyrus said normally a larger bench sits in review cases, and since the previous decision in not granting leave (permission) was made by a seven-member bench, the court should impose a higher number of judges.The senior counsel warned that the court should not be seen as dooming this review for failure due to the incapacity of a smaller bench.
"A decision made by three judges at the Court of Appeal could be over ruled by five judges which in turn was overruled by a seven-member bench," Cyrus argued.
He further submitted that a smaller bench cannot dissent in law of decisions made by a larger bench.
However, Federal Court judge Abdull Hamid Embong, who is heading the five-member all-Muslim panel hearing the review, dismissed the application, saying Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria had rejected the church's application yesterday.
'Panel cannot go against Chief Justice'
"This panel cannot go against the CJ who is empowered to form the panel to hear a case.
"Furthermore, your complaint is on the majority judgment which is made by four judges. Hence, this panel of five judges is equipped to hear this application," Justice Abdull Hamid said.
The Catholic Church filed the review application against the 4-3 judgment of seven-member Federal Court panel on June 23 last year dismissing the church's application for leave to proceed with its appeal.
The church is seeking leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision delivered on Oct 14, 2013, which allowed the government's appeal to overturn the 2009 High Court decision that the Herald could use the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section.
The High Court had ruled that the decision by the Home Ministry in banning the Herald from using ‘Allah’ was illegal.
View Comments0