Three Former Assemblymen Fail To Challenge Perlis Speaker’s Decision

KANGAR: The High Court here today allowed the application of the Perlis State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Speaker, Rus’sele Eizan, to strike out the originating summons filed by three former State Legislative Assemblymen (ADUN) regarding the declaration of casual vacancies for three DUN seats in December last year.

The three former ADUN involved are representatives for the Chuping (Saad Seman), Bintong (Fakhrul Anwar Ismail) and Guar Sanji (Mohd Ridzuan Hashim) constituencies, who challenged the Perlis DUN Speaker’s decision on 25 December last year.

Judge Datuk Mohamad Abazafree Mohd. Abbas said that the Speaker’s decision regarding the casual vacancies was made within the scope of constitutional and legal powers under Article 50A of the Perlis State Constitution.

“The court is of the view that the plaintiffs’ action in questioning matters considered by the first defendant as the Speaker in making decisions related to the DUN in general cannot be adjudicated by the court.

“This is because the validity of proceedings in the DUN cannot be questioned in any court. This immunity arises from the doctrine of separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial bodies,” he said in his brief grounds of judgment today.

The judge also ruled that Article 72(1) of the Federal Constitution grants privileges to the DUN Speaker where the validity of the Speaker’s decision cannot be questioned in any court.

Accordingly, the court allowed the Speaker’s application under Order 18 Rule 19 of the Rules of Court 2012 and struck out the originating summons filed by the three former ADUN.

The court, however, made no order as to costs.

Kosmo Online