KUALA
LUMPUR (Oct 4): Efforts of water consumers to challenge a Court of
Appeal order preventing public access to a confidential audit report and
a water concession agreement have stalled as the applicants have yet to
obtain the written judgement.
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and 13 water consumers said that Justice Datin Paduka Zaleha Zahari and Justice Datuk Seri Abu Samah Nordin have yet to provide their written judgement in the appeal where the duo ruled that the respondents have no legal right of access to the audit report and water concession agreement involving the federal government, Selangor government and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) in 2011.
"It's been 19 months since the oral judgement was delivered. Until today we have not received the written judgement which was supposed to have been ready in a month from February 25, 2011," said Charles Santiago, who represents the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP), a respondent in the suit against the government.
The group’s lawyers had sent seven letters to Chief Justice Tun Ariffin Zakaria and Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif so far but to no avail, said Charles at a press conference at the Parliament lobby on Thursday.
Charles, the DAP MP for Klang, said they were raising this issue because Zaleha, who led the three-member panel in the case, was due to retire from service in about two to three weeks.
Zaleha and Abu Samah had overruled the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court which had ordered the federal government to make those confidential documents public.
The panel, in a 2-1 majority decision in favour of the federal government, insisted that the contents of those documents could not be disclosed publicly. The third member of the panel, Justice Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus, dissented.
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and 13 water consumers said that Justice Datin Paduka Zaleha Zahari and Justice Datuk Seri Abu Samah Nordin have yet to provide their written judgement in the appeal where the duo ruled that the respondents have no legal right of access to the audit report and water concession agreement involving the federal government, Selangor government and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) in 2011.
"It's been 19 months since the oral judgement was delivered. Until today we have not received the written judgement which was supposed to have been ready in a month from February 25, 2011," said Charles Santiago, who represents the Coalition Against Water Privatisation (CAWP), a respondent in the suit against the government.
The group’s lawyers had sent seven letters to Chief Justice Tun Ariffin Zakaria and Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif so far but to no avail, said Charles at a press conference at the Parliament lobby on Thursday.
Charles, the DAP MP for Klang, said they were raising this issue because Zaleha, who led the three-member panel in the case, was due to retire from service in about two to three weeks.
Zaleha and Abu Samah had overruled the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court which had ordered the federal government to make those confidential documents public.
The panel, in a 2-1 majority decision in favour of the federal government, insisted that the contents of those documents could not be disclosed publicly. The third member of the panel, Justice Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus, dissented.
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