Federal Court to deliver verdict on ‘Abdullah’ case next week

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PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court will deliver its verdict next Thursday on an appeal by the National Registration Department (NRD) and two others on whether a Muslim child conceived out of wedlock can carry the father’s surname instead of “Abdullah”.

Lawyer Nizam Bashir, representing the couple who filed the judicial review seeking to compel the NRD director-general to replace “Abdullah” with the father’s name in the child’s birth certificate, said he was notified by the court of the decision on Tuesday.

The decision will be delivered by a three-member bench comprising Court of Appeal president Ahmad Maarop and Federal Court judges Aziah Ali and Balia Yusof Wahi. They were part of the five-member panel that initially heard the appeal.

The other two members were former chief justice Raus Sharif, who resigned, and Federal Court judge Hasan Lah, who retired.

On Oct 18, Chief Justice Richard Malanjum, presiding over a seven-member bench, decided not to rehear the appeal. Instead, the three judges from the initial Federal Court panel will directly proceed to deliver the decision.

Malanjum said there were enough judges from the previous panel which had heard and reserved decision on the appeal.

The Court of Appeal, in a written judgment released on July 25 last year, held that a Muslim child conceived out of wedlock could bear the father’s surname instead of “Abdullah”.

The court said the NRD director-general was not bound by the fatwa or religious edict issued by the National Fatwa Committee in deciding on the surname of a Muslim child conceived out of wedlock.

On Sept 8 last year, the Federal Court granted the NRD, its director-general and the government leave to appeal against the appellate court’s decision. - FMT