Retired Federal Court judge Justice Gopal Sri Ram today questioned the reluctance of High Court judges to decide on whether civil courts have the jurisdiction to hear cases related to Islam.

"It is the High Court that decides what the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court is," said Sri Ram.

He finds it humorous that High Court judges would immediately withdraw themselves from hearing a case even before the word "syariah" can be spelled in full.

"You only pronounce the first three letters S... Y... A... and the judges all excuse themselves; we can't hear this case, they say," he said.

NONE Sri Ram ( right ) contends that the Syariah Court is actually a creature of statute and as such, does not have the power to interpret statutes and therefore cannot rule on jurisdictional issues that require an interpretation of the constitution.

"I assure you, the Syariah Court does not have the power to interpret statutes. The High Court does," maintained the former judge.

The contention as to whether or not the civil court has the jurisdiction to hear cases touching on Muslims and Islam came to a head recently over several cases related to Muslim converts.

As of now, most judges will defer such cases, claiming lack of jurisdiction. Several applications for High Court review on whether some of these cases merited civil court hearings have been refused on similar grounds.

However, Sri Ram is arguing that the High Court has the right to interpret the provisions of the constitution, as well as federal and state statutes that define Syariah Court jurisdiction.