The Court of Appeal has allowed ZI Publications Sdn Bhd to challenge the legality of the confiscation of books by the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) in 2012.

The three-member bench led by Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said the High Court judge had erred in the decision to allow the preliminary objection sought by Jais and to throw out the case.

"The preliminary objection raised is not related to the arrest and seizure of the books, which was sought by the appellant.

"We allow the case to be remitted back to the High Court for it to be heard before another judge. The High Court judge erred in allowing the preliminary objection and we order that the matter be heard on its substantive (full merits)," said Tengku Maimun.

The other two judges were Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli and Justice Asmabi Mohamad.

Tengku Maimun made no order as to costs and directed the High Court to fix May 19 for pre-trial proceedings.

Jais had seized 180 copies of the Malay translation of "Allah, Liberty and Love" by Canadian Muslim author Irshad Manji from ZI Publication's office.

Section 16 of the Syariah Criminal Enactment (Selangor) 1995, regulating "religious contrary to Islamic Law", was applied during the seizure.

ZI Publications is represented by lawyer Fahri Azzat and K Shanmuga while senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan appeared for the federal government, with senior lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah representing Jais.