Syed Saddiq’s judicial review bid for Muar constituency allocation was dismissed as the Court of Appeal ruled his application was filed too late.
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal today dismissed Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s appeal for judicial review of the government’s decision to stop his constituency allocation.
A three-judge panel unanimously ruled that the judicial review application filed on April 23, 2024 was clearly out of time.
Justice Datuk Hashim Hamzah, chairing the panel, stated the appellants argued their application was timely based on a March 29, 2024 letter.
The letter indicated that if no response was received within seven days, they would assume their allocation request was rejected by April 5, 2024.
However, the court found the relevant decision date was September 10, 2023, when MUDA withdrew from the Unity Government.
Justice Hashim noted the supporting affidavit stated access to the myKHAS system managing the RM2 million development allocation was revoked after MUDA’s withdrawal.
The remaining RM500,000 and all approved projects were subsequently cancelled, according to the affidavit.
The court determined the appellants were aware of the allocation decision as of September 10, 2023.
The three-month limitation period therefore ended on December 10, 2023, making the April 23, 2024 filing clearly out of time.
Justice Hashim found no error in fact or law in the High Court’s original decision to dismiss the application.
The court upheld the High Court decision and dismissed the appeal without costs, citing public interest.
Syed Saddiq and three Muar voters had sought to quash the government’s decision to withhold RM500,000 from the total RM1.7 million allocation.
They also requested reinstatement of myKHAS system access and reversal of cancelled projects worth RM230,300.
The applicants contended the government violated their constitutional right to equality under Article 8.
Lawyer Lim Wei Jiet represented the four appellants while senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan appeared for the Prime Minister and Malaysian Government. – Bernama
