Bro_slam

Perak MB ruling today

By LISA GOH and YENG AI CHUN

Watch the video

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal will rule today on whether it will uphold a High Court decision declaring Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin as the rightful Mentri Besar of Perak.

A three-man bench comprising Justices Md Raus Shariff, Zainun Ali and Ahmad Maarop will hand down its judgment today after hearing submissions yesterday from counsel representing Nizar and Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.

“The court will only decide on whether the High Court had interpreted the Perak Constitution rightly or wrongly. If it was interpreted rightly, we will dismiss the appeal. If it was interpreted wrongly, we’ll accept the appeal,” Justice Md Raus said.

Last week, Dr Zambry filed an appeal to quash the High Court (Ap-pellate and Special Powers) ruling.

Dr Zambry’s lawyer Datuk Cecil Abraham said the High Court had made an incomplete and inaccurate ruling on May 11 when it granted Nizar the declaratory relief he sought.

He said there was “a complete and utter lack” on High Court Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim’s part “to appreciate the contemporaneous evidence”.

Arguing that Justice Abdul Aziz’s interpretation of Article 16(6) of the Perak Constitution was flawed, he said: “Article 16(6) is clear and unambiguous, and if read in its entirety, the Mentri Besar has to tender his resignation upon his request for dissolution (of the state assembly) being rejected.

“It doesn’t say he needs to go before the state legislative assembly (for a vote of no confidence),” he said.

Article 16(6) states that if the Mentri Besar ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the legislative assembly members then, unless at his request the Ruler dissolves the legislative assembly, he shall tender the resignation of the executive council.

Justice Md Raus: What if he refuses to resign?

Abraham: Then, the constitution removes him. That is my answer. He does not need an overt act to remove him.

On Feb 13, Nizar filed for a judicial review against Dr Zambry’s appointment as Mentri Besar, seeking a declaration that he (Nizar) was the rightful Perak Mentri Besar and an injunction to bar Dr Zambry from carrying out the duties of Mentri Besar.

On May 11, the High Court ruled in favour of Nizar, rendering Dr Zambry’s appointment null and void.

However, a day after that, the Court of Appeal granted Dr Zambry a stay of execution, allowing him to remain as Perak Mentri Besar until his appeal against the High Court ruling was disposed of.

The court was also to hear Nizar’s application to set aside the stay of execution order, but had decided to hear the appeal proper first following the consent of all parties.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who is an intervener in the case, submitted that under a provision in the Perak Constitution, Speaker V. Sivakumar was only allowed to cast his vote to avoid equality in the House.

“Without the Speaker, Pakatan Rakyat has 27 votes and Barisan Nasional 28. There is no deadlock,” he said.

Nizar’s lead counsel Sulaiman Abdullah rebutted Abraham’s argument that Nizar had to resign as required under Article 16(6).

“My Lords, the issue is that the first part of the provision has not been met. How do you decide whether he has lost the confidence? There was never a vote of no confidence taken, so we have not reached the stage of him tendering his resignation yet.

“We are not challenging the Sultan’s prerogative to withhold consent for the dissolution of the assembly. But it’s impermissible to make the jump from there to say there is loss of confidence and he (Nizar) has to vacate his office,” he said.

The full High Court judgement that declared Nizar as the rightful Perak MB