The decision on my appeal that the caretaker PM should not have advised His Majesty to dissolve Parliament unilaterally, without the support of cabinet, has been reserved for Tuesday, 4pm.
My lawyers argued that Ismail Sabri Yaakob could only have done so in a loss-of-confidence scenario.
This was clearly not the case, as the dissolution was a general dissolution under Article 55(2) of the Federal Constitution.
Nowhere in the Constitution does it state that the Prime Minister can independently advise His Majesty, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, to dissolve Parliament under that provision.
As the legal pre-requisite to the existence of the power to dissolve had not been fulfilled, such power did not exist, to begin with. This, in our view, is a matter that is justiciable or, in other words, that the court can adjudicate.
The views of cabinet members would have been invaluable, especially in light of the ongoing floods.
Lawyers for the respondents argued that there is no need for Ismail Sabri to obtain the support of the cabinet for any type of dissolution. They also put forth the argument that, in any event, anything to do with the dissolution of Parliament, including the dissolution itself, cannot be examined by the courts.