The Court of Appeal today allowed Perak State Speaker V Sivakumar to be represented by his own counsels in two pending suits related to the Perak crisis. The decision of the three-member bench led by Justice Md Raus Sharif was unanimous. The other two judges were Justice R Abdull Hamid Embong and Justice Ahmad Maarop.
Both suits are underway in the Ipoh High Court and presided by novice Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim.
The first matter involves three independent State Representatives (frogs) seeking to quash the Speaker's ruling that their seats were vacant;
while the second suit, was brought by Menteri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abd Kadir and his six Exco members from the 'dubious' UMNO-led Barisan Nasional against the Speaker for barring them from the State Assembly.
The Court finds there is no provision requiring the Speaker to appoint the State Legal Advisor as his representative and have found that the Speaker is not considered a State Officer or a government officer (civil servant) under the Government Procedures Act 1956.
As such, the court sets aside the March 3 orders by the Ipoh High Court.
Following this decision today, Tommy Thomas and his team of seven lawyers including Chan Kok Keong, Philip Koh, Ben Chan, Yap Boon Kah, Leong Cheok Keng, Nga Hock Cheh and Colonel Yunus would appear for Perak State Speaker V Sivakumar.
However, the application to replace Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim from hearing these two suits following today's decision, the Court of Appeal held that it was better for Tommy Thomas to write a proper application for consideration.
At last, justice had been served.
news n picture courtesy of Malaysiakini
No comments:
Post a Comment