A three-man bench chaired by Chief Justice Raus Sharif refused Tengku Sulaiman Tengku Abdul Halim leave to appeal against a Court of Appeal decision.
Raus said this matter had been adjudicated by the court and could not be pursued further.
“The Res Judicata principle applies and the law regarding succession is well established,” he said of the unanimous ruling.
The top judge said this matter could not be heard and decided by the court as it was non-justiciable.
Res Judicata, a Latin term meaning “a matter (already) judged”, is a legal principle that means, once a matter has been judicially decided, it is final and the same issue or an issue arising from the first issue cannot be contested again.
Non-justiciable means the matter is not capable of being decided by legal principles or by a court of law.
Tengku Sulaiman, who was seeking a declaration that he is the rightful hereditrary Terengganu ruler, was ordered to pay RM15,000 in costs to the Terengganu government.
On July 21, a three-man Court of Appeal panel led by Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim upheld the decision of the Terengganu High Court last year to strike out the lawsuit.
In his decision, Abang Iskandar said the panel agreed with the submission made by the respondents’ lawyer Cecil Abraham on issues of res judicata and non-justiciability.
Abraham represented Tengku Muhammad Ismail ibni Al-Wathiqu Billah Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Isa @ Ghazali Endut, Tengku Ibrahim Tengku Hussain, Syed Omar Abdul Kadir Al-Idrus and Shaikh Harun Shaikh Ismail, who are members of Dewan Pangkuan Diraja Terengganu.
Tengku Sulaiman’s lawyer T Mura Raju submitted that the suit should not be struck out as there were issues that must be tried.
Tengku Sulaiman in his statement of claim said, on Sept 26, 1942, his grandfather Tengku Ali was installed as Sultan of Terengganu following the death of his father, Sultan Sulaiman Badrul Alam Shah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III.
He said Tengku Ali was subsequently removed from the throne on November 5, 1945 by the Jemaah Pangkuan Negeri Terengganu (now known as Dewan Pangkuan Diraja Terengganu), and Tengku Ali’s uncle Tengku Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Zainal Abidin III was installed as Sultan of Terengganu.
Tengku Ali’s eldest son, Tengku Abdul Halim was 11 years old at the time but in due course had the right and should have replaced his father as Sultan of Terengganu, claimed Tengku Sulaiman.
Therefore he contended, as Tengku Abdul Halim’s son and eldest grandson of Tengku Ali, he had the right to claim the Terengganu throne.