PUTRAJAYA, Sept 3 — Religious scholar Ahmad Dusuki Abd Rani has failed in his bid to obtain leave to appeal against the revocation of his religious teaching credentials by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS).
A three-member Federal Court bench, led by Justice Datuk Nordin Hassan, unanimously dismissed his application after ruling that he had failed to meet the threshold under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
“The proposed questions, particularly Questions Four and Five, do not raise any novel issue or a matter of public importance,” Justice Nordin said, adding that the questions were also fact-centric.
The panel, which also comprised Justices Datuk Seri Vazeer Alam Mydin and Datuk P. Ravinthran, exempted Dusuki from paying costs.
The Shah Alam High Court granted him leave in 2022 to commence judicial review proceedings against MAIS and the Selangor Credentials Committee.
In the application, Dusuki claimed that the respondents had issued him a religious teaching credential, or tauliah mengajar, valid from December 5, 2018, to June 30, 2023.
However, he received a letter dated December 1, 2021, informing him that the Selangor Credentials Committee had decided to revoke his credential with effect from March 3, 2022, under the Peraturan-Peraturan Tauliah (Negeri Selangor) 2008.
Among the reliefs sought by Dusuki were a certiorari order to quash the decision, a mandamus order compelling the respondents to reinstate his credential, a declaration that the revocation was null and void, and damages.
On October 5, 2023, the High Court granted only the order to quash the decision revoking his credential.
The 50-year-old subsequently appealed to the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s refusal to grant the other reliefs. However, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal on February 23 this year, prompting Dusuki to seek leave to appeal to the Federal Court.
During the Federal Court proceedings, his lawyer Ashok K. Raman argued that the apex court should grant leave to determine the proposed questions of law.
The questions focused particularly on whether holders of religious teaching credentials are prohibited from actively participating in, or holding positions in, legally registered political parties in Malaysia.
Lawyer Arham Rahimy Hariri, representing MAIS and the Selangor Credentials Committee, argued that the proposed questions were neither novel nor matters of public importance and were fact-centric.
Dusuki had previously contested in the 2022 Selangor State Election as a PAS candidate but lost.
