Malanjum said he would respond to the suit by lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo.
“Definitely, we have to file the affidavit… that’s the order (from the High Court),” he said when met by reporters after opening the Legal Year for the Sabah and Sarawak Court at the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex here today.
Asked when the affidavit would be filed, he said: “I have to follow the court order. I think three or five weeks. It would be handled by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.”
Malanjum has been ordered by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to file an affidavit-in-reply to an originating summons filed by Sangeet Kaur over the alleged interference by the judiciary in the outcome of her father’s sedition case and on the religious conversion of the Hindu children.
The order was made by judge Mohd Firuz Jaffril when the case came up for mention for the first time yesterday.
Malanjum was ordered to file the affidavit in reply on or before Feb 11.
Sangeet filed the summons last Jan 14 seeking a declaration that the chief justice had failed to defend the integrity and credibility of the judiciary when he failed to complete investigations relating to two very serious allegations of judicial interference.
Sangeet claimed the issue cropped up when lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla issued a statement claiming that a senior judge interfered with the outcome of the late DAP stalwart’s sedition appeal and the matter was reported by an online news portal, Free Malaysia Today, on Aug 22, 2018.
She also claimed judicial interference in the case of the Indira Gandhi when Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sultan Abu Backer revealed that he had been reprimanded by a top judge for writing a dissenting judgment two years ago in the case of the unilateral conversion of Indira’s children.
Earlier, Malanjum, accompanied by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong, led a procession of 177 members of the judiciary and legal fraternity to mark the start of this year’s legal year for Sarawak and Sabah.
Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak David Wong Dak Wah, Sabah Attorney-General Zaleha Rose Pandin and Sarawak Attorney-General Talat Mahmood Abd Rashid also took part in the 1.6km procession, which began from the Karamunsing Complex to the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex, where they then assembled for the opening ceremony.
Sabah has been celebrating it since 18 years ago before Sarawak joined in 2009, a tradition adopted from the Westminister Abbey (in English tradition) for the two states.