Kota Kinabalu: The Syariah Lower Court will soon have jurisdiction to hear and decide a higher value of inheritance up to RM300,000 following passing of a Bill to amend the Syariah Courts Enactment 2004 by the Assembly, Thursday.
Deputy Speaker Datuk Richard Yong granted the passing after the majority in the House agreed to the amended enactment which is to be cited as the Syariah Courts (Amendment) 2023.
State Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Dr Mohd Arifin bin Mohd Arif, who is also the State Exco of Islamic Affairs tabled the Bill, said the aim is to empower management of the Muslims’ inheritance to be administered in a more orderly manner.
Hence, he said the Syariah Court in currently in the process of preparing a draft of proposed laws and rules to meet such purposes and this Bill will further streamline the proposed draft law and those rules.
“The Syariah Court Enactment (Amendment) Bill 2023 was drafted to give clearer authority to the Syariah Court in hearing and deciding any matter related to inheritance.
“The Bill also aims to increase the legal jurisdiction of the Syariah Lower Court to hear and decide a higher value of inheritance from RM100,000 to RM300,000 in accordance with the value of the property which is currently increasing,” he said.
Dr Mohd Arifin said this Bill involves amendments to three Clauses only whereby as usual, Clause 1 of the Bill contains the short title and the date of coming into operation of the proposed Enactment.
In light of this, he said the amended enactment comes into operation on a date to be appointed by the Minister by notification in the Gazette.
“Clause 2 aims to amend sub-paragraph 11(3)(b)(viii) of the Syariah Courts Enactment 2004 [No.6 of 2004] (hereinafter referred to as “the Enactment”) to provide clear provisions on the field the authority of the Syariah Court to hear and decide any matter related to inheritance.
“Clause 3 aims to amend paragraph 12(2)(b) of the Enactment to increase the mal (civil) jurisdiction of the Syariah Lower Court from RM100,000 to RM300,000,” he said.
