Judge Nordin Hassan said the matter had been overtaken by events following the dissolution of the 13th Dewan Rakyat on April 7.
“The subject matter is no longer there since the convening of the 14th Dewan Rakyat,” he said in allowing the government’s preliminary objection to throw out the suit without hearing the merit of the case.
Nordin said the rights of Tawfik were also not affected as the issue was “no longer alive”.
He said the court would be seen as expressing its views if it had proceeded to hear the matter.
Nordin, however, said Tawfik was at liberty to file a fresh action if a similar motion to amend the Shariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act was tabled again in the Dewan Rakyat and allowed by the speaker.
Last month, the government raised the preliminary objection as Tawfik’s suit was academic as all matters related to the 13th session of the Dewan Rakyat had come to an end following Parliament’s dissolution in April.
A letter by Attorney-General Tommy Thomas to Tawfik’s lawyers said that any unfinished business of a Parliament that had been dissolved would automatically lapse pursuant to the dissolution.
“Such unfinished business cannot and does not ‘carry on life’ when the new Parliament convenes.
“It would certainly extend to the RUU355 motion,” Thomas said in the letter, referring to the bill pushed by PAS to introduce heavier punishments under shariah law.
He said since the motion “died” on April 7, the dispute had become academic, and it was not practical to proceed with the case.
But Tawfik’s lawyer Rosli Dahlan disagreed, saying the government’s objection was misconceived.
“The preliminary objection is misconceived as it presupposes that the originating summons is solely on (Marang MP) Abdul Hadi Awang’s motion. The reliefs sought are beyond just Hadi’s motion,” he said.
Rosli said there were issues which required the court to deliver a judgment and not shirk from its judicial duty as mandated by the Federal Constitution.
He said the reliefs sought were not just against the tabling of Hadi’s motion but also against other breaches of the constitution. Hadi is PAS president.
Rosli said if the preliminary objection was allowed, it would set an adverse precedent for future motions without adhering to the spirit and provisions of the constitution.
He said Tawfik’s originating summons should be heard to pronounce the legal position of the tabling of laws with regards to Article 38 of the constitution.
On Feb 22, judge Kamaludin Md Said, who heard the government’s application to strike out Tawfik’s suit, declined on grounds the court had jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Tawfik is a former Barisan Nasional MP for Sungai Benut in Johor, and son of the late Ismail Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister from 1970 to 1973.
He was seeking a court order to stop the tabling of the bill which sought to give wider powers to shariah courts, including stiffer sentences on Muslim offenders.
He filed his application in court in March last year, naming Pandikar and Dewan Rakyat secretary Roosme Hamzah as defendants.
He claimed the private member’s bill proposed by Hadi did not conform to the requirements of the Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat.
Hadi tabled a motion on April 6 last year to introduce his bill but it was not debated.
The bill aims to increase the penalties for shariah offences to 30 years’ jail, RM100,000 fine and 100 strokes of the cane.
Pandikar and Roosme asked the court to strike out the suit as it encroached on parliamentary privileges under the constitution.