KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court fixed May 23 to hear the judicial review application by Crackhouse Comedy Club, challenging the action by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to revoke its business licence and ban its owners from starting any business in the city permanently.
Lawyer M Pravin, who represented the owners Rizal van Geyzel and Shankar R Santhiram, said the application would be heard before Justice Amarjeet Singh.
The duo filed the judicial review application at the High Court on Nov 24 and named DBKL, Kuala Lumpur mayor Mahadi Che Ngah, then federal territories deputy minister Jalaluddin Alias, the federal territories ministry and the government of Malaysia as respondents.
The owners are seeking a declaration that the decision to revoke the club’s licence was against the law and that the decision made by Jalaluddin as well as the ministry to ban them permanently from registering any business in Kuala Lumpur, even under another name and company, was unconstitutional.
They also requested a court order to cancel the decision on the grounds that they have a fundamental right under the Federal Constitution to conduct a business with a valid licence in the city.
In their supporting affidavit, they said on Aug 17 last year Jalaluddin had issued a statement that DBKL’s licencing committee had decided to cancel the comedy club’s licence, effective July 30 the same year, and the owners were blacklisted for life from registering a business in Kuala Lumpur, adding that this decision had severely affected them as entrepreneurs.
Rizal and Shankar also claimed that they never received any official notice or letter from DBKL on the matter.
Rizal is also currently facing three criminal charges for making and initiating the transmission of offensive communications with intent to offend others via Facebook and TikTok between July 4 and 6, 2022.
The charges were framed under Section 233(1) (a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, punishable under Section 233 (3) of the same Act, which provides a maximum fine of RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both, and shall be further fined RM1,000 for every day that the offence is repeated after conviction, if convicted.