| Nov 12 For Hearing Of Kedah Speaker's Judicial Review |
|
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- The High Court here will hear on Nov 12 an application by Kedah State Legislative Assembly Speaker Datuk Dr Abdul Isa Ismail for a review of the Election Commission's (EC) decision to retain Datuk Abu Hassan Sarif as the Kota Siputeh assemblyman.
Justice Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin set the date after being pressured to resolve the dispute before the next Kedah assembly sitting on Nov 17.
Both counsel, Sulaiman Abdullah, for Abdul Isa, and Datuk Hafarizam Harun, for Abu Hassan, had urged the court to hear and dispose of the case before the assembly sitting.
Hafarizam said Abu Hassan's interest was at stake as he was no longer recognised as the Kota Siputeh assemblyman by the Speaker and would be barred from the assembly sitting. "Yesterday the Speaker sent a letter to my client to inform him that he (Abu Hassan) is not recognised as the Kota Siputeh assemblyman due to the reasons stated in the present application for judicial review. -- MORE
"This issue needs to be clarified and we will file our affidavit as soon as possible," he said.
Hafarizam suggested that if the case could not be resolved before Nov 17, the Speaker should give an undertaking to the court that he would not stop Abu Hassan from attending the sitting and that the Kota Siputeh seat was not vacant until the court gave.
Sulaiman disagreed and urged the court to fix the hearing date next week.
"You are not being fair to the court. You knew that the matter (assembly sitting) is coming up, why don't you file a certificate of urgency to the court? And now I have to decide on the important constitutional issue in a short time," said Justice Alizatul and counsel apologised.
The court then ordered all parties to file their affidavits by Thursday and to prepare written submissions before the hearing.
On Oct 1, Abdul Isa filed the suit at the High Court (Appeals and Special Powers Division) registry, naming Abu Hassan of the Barisan Nasional and the EC as respondents.
He is seeking a declaration that Abu Hassan is no longer the assemblyman for the Kota Siputeh seat following his failure to attend two consecutive sittings of the state assembly, and an injunction to stop him from carrying out his duties as a state assemblyman.
He also wants the court to declare the seat vacant and order the EC to call for a by-election besides seeking damages, costs and other reliefs.
On Sept 1, the EC decided that there was no vacancy in the Kota Siputeh seat and that Abu Hassan is still the assemblyman.
Senior federal counsel Suzana Atan appeared for the EC.
-- BERNAMA
|
|
|