This is to allow the Selangor government to file a reply in response to the application by the EC.
However, the three-man bench, chaired by justice Idrus Harun, dismissed an application by lawyer for Selangor Ambiga Sreenevasan to disqualify Idrus from hearing the application.
“We find no merit in the recusal application,” said Idrus, but allowed the application for an adjournment.
Earlier, Ambiga said Idrus had sat and decided in three cases that involved the EC and he ought to recuse himself as he was biased.
She said Idrus had made remarks in one of the judgments that “the EC should not be hampered in carrying out its functions”.
Ambiga said she was seeking a short postponement to file an affidavit in reply as the EC had served the legal papers only on Tuesday.
“The EC has until September next year to complete the redelineation exercise. There is no practical reason for this application (to set aside the stay order by the High Court) when half the country is on holiday,” she said.
She said the EC must remain independent of the government.
Government lawyer Amarjeet Singh said the element of bias did not apply here just because Idrus had sat in another case.
“It is now becoming fashionable to disqualify a judge just because he or she had sat and decided on another case of similar nature,” he said.
He said the facts in the three cases were completely different compared with the matter now before the bench.
Amarjeet said the adjournment application should also be dismissed because the EC had filed a certificate of urgency as this was an exceptional case.
“The greater interest of democracy should be taken into account as 110 local inquiries need to be carried out in Selangor,” he said, adding that the rights of other states in Peninsular Malaysia should also be considered.
He said the Federal Constitution mandated the EC to carry out inquries.
Last week High Court judge Azizul Azmi Adnan dismissed the Selangor government’s judicial review application to challenge the EC’s exercise in redrawing the electoral boundaries, partly due to a binding Court of Appeal ruling, and also because, he said, the state was not an adversely-affected party.
The judge, however, allowed Selangor’s interim stay application pending the outcome of its appeal in the Court of Appeal to maintain the status quo.
This means the EC is stopped from conducting any local inquiries.
Azizul said the court would have no jurisdiction to hear the appeal once the EC presented its report to the prime minister to be tabled in parliament.
“Selangor’s appeal will be rendered nugatory,” he said, adding that the EC had until September next year to complete its task.
The PKR-led Selangor government filed the legal challenge in October last year, seeking to nullify the EC’s notice of redelineation, claiming it violated the Federal Constitution in drawing new electoral boundaries.