Counsel Ahmad Zyed Ahmad Zuber who represented both plaintiffs, former Kota Alam Shah asssemblyman M Manoharan and P Uthayakumar, informed justice VT Singham of the Kuala Lumpur High Court today that both the lawyers had decided not to pursue the matter further.
Singham recorded the withdrawal application after senior federal counsel Effandi Nazila Abdullah, representing the defendants, did not object.
Manoharan, when contacted later, declined to comment on what prompted he and Uthayakumar (right) to withdraw the suit.On Jan 14 this year, the Court of Appeal allowed an appeal by Manoharan and Uthayakumar to reinstate their legal suit after ruling that both appellants had locus standi to file the suit, and ordered the case to go for trial on its merits at the High Court.
On June 20 last year, Singham had struck out the suit ruling that duo had failed to show that they had locus standi to file the action.
Singham made the order after allowing the government's application to strike out the suit.
In their suit filed on Feb 9, last year, the duo, among other requests, sought for declaratory relief that all 523 Tamil primary schools in the country be fully aided.
They also sought an order for each Tamil school to be built on 4.05ha of land and be given equal financial allocations.
Manoharan, 51, and Uthayakumar, 51, also asked for an order that at least one Tamil boarding school be built in each district, especially for poor Indian students, and at least a secondary Tamil school be built in each state except Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis.
They wanted an order that the Bukit Fraser Tamil school be given an allocation of RM200mil and be converted into a Maktab Rendah Sains Mara to enrol 1,191 UPSR students from Tamil schools who obtained 7As in their examination.
The government had claimed that the suit was frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process.
- Bernama
