Justice Choo Kah Sing said the appellants also failed to obtain the consent of the attorney-general (AG) as required under Section 9 of the Government Proceedings Act 1956 when filing the action against the Om Sivan Alayam Temple in Bukit Rasah and its four trustees.

Affirming the decision of the High Court in Seremban, Choo said only the insolvency department could initiate action since the temple had been deregistered.

Choo added that the AG’s consent was required since the appellants’ challenge fell squarely in asserting an interest.

Choo, who sat with Justices Azman Abdullah and Noorin Badaruddin, also ordered the seven to pay the respondents RM15,000 in costs.

Earlier, lawyer Ranjan Chandran raised a preliminary objection that the ex-committee members’ appeal was invalid as they lacked the locus standi to sue the trustees without the AG’s consent.

The ex-committee members, however, submitted that the trustees were sued based on a certificate of formation of trusteeship dated Nov 2, 2021, endorsed by the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department.

The facts of the case revealed that the former temple committee members had filed originating summons and an injunction, but that the relief sought was similar.

The former committee members obtained an ex parte injunction from the High Court in June 2023 to restrain the trustees from holding a consecration ceremony for the temple.

They also managed to prevent the trustees from dealing with the temple assets.

However, four months later, the trustees managed to set aside the injunction after an inter partes hearing.

The temple was deregistered in November 2017 and the assets vested with the insolvency department’s director-general as required under Section 17 of the Societies Act 1966.

Besides Ranjan, Jayasri Nadarajan and Nandhini Devi Nagindren represented the temple’s trustees while Kirubakaran Baskaran, Satwant Singh and Barath Paramasivam appeared for the former committee members.