Shaharuddin Hidayu & Marwaliz

On the court record

Shaharuddin Hidayu & Marwaliz is a Malaysian firm whose reported matters before the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Federal Court (Mahkamah Persekutuan) span liberty, administrative law and civil procedure. In the field of personal liberty the firm has appeared in a habeas corpus application under the drug-dependants treatment and rehabilitation legislation, arguing whether the absence of a start and end date for rehabilitation on the prescribed Form 3 was fatal to the detention, and whether the amending Act applied to action commenced before it came into force. At Federal Court level it has argued whether an accused person investigated under the Armed Forces Act 1972, where the charge is not dealt with summarily, may be remanded automatically under section 96(3) without regard to the remand procedures prescribed by section 94 and the related rules, an important question on the limits of military detention.

The firm's administrative-law and civil-procedure work is substantial. It has appeared in a judicial review of a disciplinary board's decision, arguing whether the provisions of the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993 were mandatory and whether the respondent had to ensure that a letter sent by registered post was received personally by the applicant. It has also argued striking-out applications under Order 18 Rule 19 of the Rules of Court 2012, including whether a claim against a public authority was barred by the limitation and other protections of the Public Authorities Protection Act 1948.

In the striking-out matters the firm tested whether claims disclosed a reasonable cause of action and whether they were caught by the limitation and other protections afforded to public authorities, a recurring feature of its administrative-law work. The reported profile is that of a litigation practice with a distinct emphasis on liberty and administrative law, engaged with habeas corpus and the safeguards attending detention, the remand of persons under military law, the discipline of public officers, and the procedural and limitation protections that govern claims against public authorities.