The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today fixed April 28 to hear the merits of Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua's application to challenge the immigration department's order barring him from overseas travel.

The case will be heard before Justice Hanipah Farikullah.

The date was fixed by High Court deputy registrar Nurul Aini Yahya following case management today.

Pua was represented by lawyer Joanne Chua while senior federal counsel Natrah Idris represented the immigration Department director-general.

Nurul Aini ordered parties to file written submissions by March 29 and reply to the submissions on April 18.

It was previously reported that Pua was prevented from travelling to Jogjakarta to attend a conference despite having an international passport.

Following that, he filed for a judicial review application on Aug 19 last year to challenge the ban.

It was reported on Monday that the purported ban was due to the inspector-general of police informing the immigration department that Pua was a suspect for 'activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy'.

However, Pua denied that he was such a suspect under Section 124B of the Penal Code and said that until today, he had not been charged for such an offence.

He added that he was called in last September by the police not as a suspect but as a witness for such investigations.