Lawyer A Srimurugan, who represents Loh, informed the appeals court’s deputy registrar Mariam Hasanah Othman that he has not received the grounds of judgment from the High Court.
“The deputy registrar has asked me to follow up with the High Court on the matter,” he told FMT after case management conducted online today.
Loh’s solicitors had earlier written to Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim to expedite the hearing of the appeal.
Srimurugan said he has also written to the secretary of Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh asking for the written grounds of the judge’s decision to be made available.
Loh filed her notice of appeal on May 15.
A court practice direction states the grounds of judgment should be made available within eight weeks of the filing of the notice.
“I hope to obtain the grounds by the end of the month to enable the Court of Appeal to fix a hearing date for the appeal,” Srimurugan added.
Lawyer Danial Farhan Zainul Rijal represented the religious and Malay customs council of Perlis, while Ainul Wardah Shahidan appeared for state mufti Asri Zainul Abidin, the state government and registrar of converts, the respondents in the appeal.
On May 11, Wan Farid dismissed Loh’s judicial review application, ruling that there was no evidence the three children had stopped professing Islam even after she gained custody of them.
The judge said there was no dispute that certificates of conversion were issued to the children.
He said the certificates were issued after the Perlis state registrar of converts was satisfied that the legal requirements of Section 107(1) of the Perlis 2006 Enactment had been adhered to and that the children had professed the Syahadah proclamation willingly.
On March 25 last year, Loh filed the suit seeking a declaration that a provision in the state enactment that allows a parent to unilaterally convert minor children was unconstitutional.
She also wanted a declaration that her twin daughters, aged 14, and son, aged 11, were still Hindus.
Loh said her children were legally incapable of embracing Islam without her consent as they were minors.
Loh also wanted a certiorari order to quash the registration of the conversion into the Islamic faith by the registrar on July 7, 2020.
On Feb 21 last year, High Court judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah allowed a habeas corpus application filed by Loh after she had failed to regain custody of her three children from preacher Nazirah Nanthakumari Abdullah.
This followed a civil court order giving her custody, care and control of her three children.
Loh claimed she later came to know that her children had been placed under Nazirah’s care and alleged that Nazirah refused to let her meet them.
Loh, a Buddhist, contends that her former husband, M Nagahswaran, did not have the legal capacity to allow the registrar of converts to register their children as converts without her consent.