JUDGMENT

Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat CJ (Majority):

Preliminaries

[1] This judgment is delivered by the remaining judges on this panel pursuant to s 78 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, as our learned brother, Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil FCJ, has since mandatorily retired from the Bench.

[2] My learned brother, Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim PCA and my learned sister Nallini Pathmanathan FCJ, have seen this judgment in draft and have agreed with it.

[3] In all civilised democracies with independent Judiciaries, judicial review applications are routine against the Executive branch of Government for decisions and omissions they make in the exercise or non-exercise of their discretion. In most cases, the subject matter of the exercise of discretion is not the main issue in the plaint; rather, it is the manner in which the decision was made and/or concerns a review of the legal basis upon which such power was exercised or not exercised.