Mahkamah Persekutuan Tolak Petisyen Ketiga Bekas Sultan Kelantan
PUTRAJAYA, 10 Februari (Bernama) -- Mahkamah Persekutuan pada Khamis menolak petisyen bekas Sultan Kelantan, Tuanku Ismail Petra, untuk mencabar pelantikan putera sulung baginda, Sultan Muhammad V, menaiki takhta.
Presiden Mahkamah Rayuan, Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, yang mengetuai panel tiga hakim membenarkan permohonan Sultan Muhammad V (Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra) untuk membatalkan petisyen ketiga ayahanda baginda yang memohon diisytiharkan pemasyhuran baginda (Sultan Muhammad V) sebagai Sultan adalah melanggar perlembagaan.
Permohonan untuk membatalkan petisyen itu difailkan atas alasan bahawa Tuanku Ismail Petra tidak mempunyai locus standi untuk mengemukakan petisyen itu dan forum yang betul untuk membuat keputusan terhadap pertikaian itu ialah Mahkamah Khas.
Ini kerana Tengku Muhammad Faris ialah Sultan Kelantan dan permohonan tuntutan mempertikaikan pelantikan seorang Sultan perlu dibuat di Mahkamah Khas.
Panel hakim menyampaikan keputusan itu tanpa kehadiran peguam yang mewakili Tuanku Ismail Petra.
Peguam yang mewakili Tuanku Ismail Petra sebelum ini, Raja Aziz Addruse dan Abdul Rashid Ismail, telah menarik diri daripada mewakili baginda pada 18 Januari selepas mahkamah menolak permohonan mereka supaya petisyen itu didengar pada pertengahan Mac kerana Raja Aziz perlu menyelesaikan rawatan perubatannya di sebuah hospital di Singapura pada awal Mac.
Panel itu yang terdiri daripada Hakim Mahkamah Persekutuan, Tan Sri Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff, dan Hakim Mahkamah Rayuan, Hasan Lah, menolak petisyen itu tanpa mengeluarkan perintah mengenai kos.
Petisyen ketiga itu difailkan pada 20 September tahun lepas, memohon pendapat Mahkamah Persekutuan mengenai persoalan perundangan berhubung pindaan ke atas perlembagaan negeri dan pelantikan Tengku Mahkota sebagai Sultan.
Pada 13 September tahun lepas, Majlis Perajaan melantik Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra sebagai Sultan Kelantan, menggantikan ayahanda baginda, berikutan mengalami ketidakupayaan sejak Mei 2009.
Pada 26 November tahun lepas, dua petisyen yang mempersoalkan tahap kuasa dan kewibawaan Tengku Mahkota semasa Sultan mengalami ketidakupayaan yang difailkan oleh Tuanku Ismail Petra ditolak oleh Mahkamah Persekutuan.
Mahkamah Persekutuan, dalam dua petisyen itu, telah memutuskan bekas Sultan tidak mempunyai kedudukan undang-undang untuk merujuk persoalan berkenaan kepada mahkamah tertinggi itu untuk diputuskan.
Dalam prosiding pada Khamis, peguam Sunil Abraham yang mewakili Sultan Muhammad V memaklumkan mahkamah yang beliau telah memaklumkan kepada Tuanku Ismail Petra mengenai tarikh perbicaraan hari ini melalui sepucuk surat pada 28 Januari tahun ini.
Beliau berkata salinan hujahan beliau bagi permohonan beliau untuk membatalkan petisyen itu turut dikepilkan dalam surat itu.
Penasihat Undang-undang Negeri Kelantan, Datuk Azlan Abdul Halim, mewakili responden kedua, kerajaan negeri Kelantan.
Apex court strikes out former Kelantan ruler's appeal
PUTRAJAYA, February 10 (Bernama) -- The Federal Court here Thursday struck out a petition from former Kelantan ruler, Tuanku Ismail Petra, challenging the ascension of his eldest son, Sultan Muhammad V, to the throne.
Court of Appeal president, Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, leading a three-man panel, allowed the application by Sultan Muhammad V (Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra) to strike out his father's third petition which had sought to declare his (Sultan Muhammad V) proclamation as the Sultan as unconstitutional.
The application to strike out the petition was filed on the grounds that Tuanku Ismail Petra did not have the locus standi to institute the petition and that the proper forum to determine this dispute was the Special Court.
This was because Tengku Muhammad Faris is now the ruler of the state of Kelantan and any institution of claim disputing the succession of a ruler must be at the Special Court.
The panel's decision was handed down in the absence of lawyers representing Tuanku Ismail Petra.
His previous lawyers, Raja Aziz Addruse and Abdul Rashid Ismail, had discharged themselves on January 18 from representing him after the court denied their request for the hearing of the petition to be heard in mid-March because Raja Aziz would only be completing his medical treatment at a hospital in Singapore in early March.
The panel, which also comprised Federal Court judge, Tan Sri Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusoff, and Court of Appeal judge, Datuk Hasan Lah, struck out the petition with no orders on costs.
The third petition, which was filed on September 20 last year, sought the Federal Court's opinion on legal issues over the purported amendment of the state constitution and the appointment of the regent as Sultan.
On September 13, last year, the state Council of Royal Succession appointed Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra as Sultan of Kelantan, replacing his father, who has been incapacitated since May 2009.
On November 26 last year, two petitions questioning the extent of the Regent's power and authority during a Sultan's incapacitation filed by Tuanku Ismail Petra were dismissed by the Federal Court.
The Federal Court, in those two petitions, ruled that the former ruler did not have the legal standing to refer questions for determination of the apex court.
In Thursday's proceedings, counsel Sunil Abraham, representing Sultan Muhammad V, told the court that he had informed Tuanku Ismail Petra of the hearing date via a letter on January 28.
He said a copy of his submission of the application to strike out the petition was also attached, together with the letter.
Kelantan legal adviser, Datuk Azlan Abdul Halim, appeared for the second respondent, the Kelantan Government.
