PUTRAJAYA: The federal government has turned to the Federal Court in an attempt to set aside the leave granted to the Sabah Law Society (SLS) to commence judicial review over the 40 per cent special revenue grant to which the state is entitled under the Federal Constitution.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, when contacted by Bernama, said the application for leave to appeal was filed last July 16.
Several questions of law were framed for determination of the Federal Court, including whether the decision of any review of the Sabah Special Grant is a policy matter exclusively within the domain of the executive.
Another question is whether the Federal Constitution (Review of the Special Grant under Article 112D (State of Sabah) order 2022 is amenable to judicial review.
On June 18 this year, the Court of Appeal dismissed the federal government's appeal against the leave granted to SLS to initiate a judicial review compelling the return of 40 per cent of federal revenue earned from the state according to the Federal Constitution.
The appellate court three-man panel led by Justice Datuk P. Ravinthran, when reading out the decision, ordered the High Court to fix a date for the full hearing of the judicial review application.
He said SLS had locus standi to commence the judicial review as it is a public interest litigation taken for the benefit of the public and not to seek redress for a personal wrong or grievance.
On Nov 11, 2022, the High Court granted leave to SLS to commence the judicial review, ruling that it had locus standi to do so as it was a matter of public interest.
SLS filed the judicial review application in 2022, seeking to quash the federal government's gazette of an RM125.6 million annual grant for Sabah, claiming that it violated the state's revenue rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).