A protracted case involving one Zaina Abdul Hamid @ S Maniam, his two sons and daughter to have a declaration that they are Hindus had to be postponed again today as two of the Court of Appeal judges decided to recuse themselves.

The case has been ongoing since 2002.

Justice Azahar Mohamed said he was head of the Civil Division of the Attorney-General's Chambers and had given approval for the chambers to strike out the case.

Another Court of Appeal judge Mohd Ariff Md Yusof also excused himself from the case as he was involved in a similar case - James vs the Malaysian government.

"I do not feel comfortable as I have sat at a similar matter. As such I am recusing myself from this case," Justice Ariff said as reported in The Star .

The third panel member Justice Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid, who was a senior federal counsel in the Lina Joy and Kamariah Ali cases, asked Zaina's lawyers K Shanmuga, Aston Paiva and Fahri Azzat whether they were comfortable with her listening to the case.

Following the quorum failure, as a result of the two judges removing themselves from the bench, the case has been postponed to Nov 4.

It was reported that Zaina @ Maniam, was born to a Hindu father who converted to Islam to marry his mother, an Indian Muslim. However, Zaina married a Hindu, A Suselia, in 1986, in accordance with Hindu rituals.

Following this, they have two sons Surindiran and Mohanasubash, and daughter Chandrika.

Zaina, Surindran, Mohanasubash and Chandrika had filed a judicial review in 2002, where they named the Malaysian and Selangor government, along with the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) as respondents.

They are challenging the Selangor enactment which requires them to go to the Syariah court to seek its permission to be Hindus. They claimed the enactment is against the Federal Constitution on the matter of freedom of religion.  

They applied to change their names to M Balachandran, B Surindran, B Mohanasubash and B Chandrika, and they were to be referred to as Hindus in all public records, deeds and documents.

The case was brought to the Federal Court in 2012 but the apex court remitted it to the High Court as the facts were still in dispute. The Shah Alam High Court, however, dismissed their application resulting in the appeal.