The then Pakatan Harapan cabinet’s 2019 decision to grant a six-month operating licence extension to rare earth refiner Lynas Corporation is valid and a legal challenge against it is academic, a judge ruled.

The High Court judge in Kuala Lumpur, Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, ruled this in the full written grounds of judgment over his dismissal of a judicial review against the extension.

On July 28, the High Court dismissed the judicial review by group Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) and two Kuantan residents against the 2019 decision by the then Harapan administration to grant a six-month operating licence to Lynas.

The three judicial review applicants...