The High Court here decided today to refer to the Federal Court in Putrajaya a question on whether it is the state assembly Speaker or the Election Commission which has the final say in determining the vacancy of a seat.
The High Court made the decision while hearing the suit filed by Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Captain (Rtd) Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Hee Yit Foong, the elected state assemblymen for Behrang, Changkat Jering and Jelapang respectively against Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar.
The three claim they did not quit from their posts and are suing Sivakumar for falsely declaring their state seats vacant.
Judicial Commisioner (JC) Ridwan Ibrahim dismissed a request from Sivakumar’s lawyers to stay the referral.
Instead, Ridwan ordered the lawyers for the three elected representatives to draft the questions to be referred to the Federal Court and submit it to the High Court later this afternoon.
The date on referral will be fixed by the Federal Court later.
The decision was made in court behind closed doors. Reporters and members of the public were denied entry.
A policeman on duty reported he had received instructions from the sitting judge to bar the public and reporters from hearing the matter.
A similar referral to the apex court was made recently by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in another matter related to the Perak constitutional crisis.
Judge Lau Bee Lan of the Appellate and Special Powers division of the High Court postponed hearing the suit filed by Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, who maintains he is the lawful mentri besar of Perak against the de facto MB Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir, pending the Federal Court’s answer to four constitutional questions.
The Federal Court is due to hear the matter on Friday.
Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman had contested in the general elections last year under the PKR banner while Hee, who is also the deputy speaker of the assembly, ran on a DAP ticket. All three have since publicly declared themselves as independents “friendly” to the Barisan Nasional (BN).
However, Speaker Sivakumar has filed a counter suit against the three as well as the Election Commission at the KL High Court.
His case has been fixed to be heard in court on Mar 23.
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