This means the Sept 12 nomination day fixed by the Election Commission for the 73 seats in the state legislature will proceed as scheduled.

A three-member bench chaired by Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, who delivered the unanimous ruling, said that there was no appealable error by judicial commissioner Leonard David Shim in refusing leave application for judicial review on Aug 21.

“The appeal is dismissed and we affirm the ruling of the High Court,” Karim said.

He added Juhar’s decision was non-justiciable (cannot be challenged in court) and the dissolution was not amenable to judicial review.

“The court cannot interfere on matters relating to dissolution. The governor had exercised his discretion in accordance with the Sabah constitution,” he said.

The other members on the bench were Abu Bakar Jais and Supang Lian. Karim said the bench would provide a written judgment later.

Lawyer Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, who represented former chief minister and former Sungai Sibuga assemblyman Musa Aman and 32 former elected representatives, then applied for an oral stay of today’s ruling pending appeal to the Federal Court.

“There is special circumstance to warrant a stay of the verdict until it is disposed of in the Federal Court,” he said.

However, Sabah Attorney-General Brenndon Keith Soh, representing the governor, said the application should be disallowed as there was no appeal pending because the applicants’ leave for judicial review had been dismissed.

Lawyer Cyrus Das, who appeared for caretaker chief minister Shafie Apdal and the state government, said the stay application should be disallowed as the nomination for the state polls is taking place in 72 hours.

“The Election Commission has taken every step to mobilise 30,000 personnel and 73 returning officers,” he said.

Further, he said the Sabah constitution stated that elections must be held within 60 days after dissolution.

He said those candidates who want to contest should know where they are going to stand,” he added.

Das added that the 33 men should file a formal application to stay today’s ruling.

Federal Counsel Suzana Atan, appearing for the Attorney-General (AG), said the stay should not be allowed because there were no respondents – governor, Shafie and state government.

“The 33 failed to get leave of the court to commence judicial review proceedings,” she added.

During the leave stage, the AG is allowed to participate in the proceedings but in this case the High Court invited lawyers for the governor, Shafie and state government as putative respondents since complex constitutional issues arose.

The bench then ruled against granting an oral stay but ordered the 33 appellants to file a formal application with the Federal Court.

On July 29, Shafie submitted a letter to Juhar, requesting the governor to dissolve the legislature due to political instability following attempts to bring down the Warisan led-government.

The following day, Juhar issued a proclamation to hold the state election.

Musa and the 32 former reps then took the position that Shafie could not advise the governor to dissolve the house as he had lost the majority support of the state assemblymen.

Musa insisted he could form the next government having 33 out of the 65 seats in the Sabah legislature.