IPOH, Nov 3 — The High Court will decide on December 1 whether to revoke the sacking of Perak's 816 Pakatan Rakyat-appointed village chiefs as ordered earlier this year by the Barisan Nasional government.
During submissions today, lawyer Yunos Ali, who spoke on behalf of the group, said that the Perak government, helmed by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, had no legal right to dismiss the village chiefs before the expiration of their tenures in 2010.
He said their sudden dismissal had gone against the rules of natural justice as none of the 816 chiefs were given the right to be heard before they were asked to cease duties.
“The respondent has breached the terms of appointment by halting the services of all 816 chiefs without giving them any reason.
“They were not given any chance or any form of hearing,” he told the court, adding that the dismissal had clearly been done in bad faith and was politically motivated.
Yunos said that as the village chiefs had received appointment letters from the previous state government as well as from their respective district officers, they had legitimate expectations that their terms of appointment would only cease once their tenures expired.
He also pointed out that the respondent's affidavit contained an “admission of their high-handedness” in meting out the dismissal, which he said was obviously punitive in nature.
“In the respondent's affidavit, they had cited the guidelines of the appointment and termination of the village chiefs. In the first place, these guidelines were never given to the chiefs. We do not know who wrote these guidelines or where they came from,” said Yunos.
He said a clause in the guidelines claimed that the Mentri Besar had the discretion to, at any time, terminate the services of the village heads if they are found to be unsuitable or incapable to hold the posts.
“I would like to draw the court's attention to the words 'if found'. What we want to know is 'who found' and 'what was found'? And all 816 village chiefs were found to be unsuitable?” he argued.
Yunos said that by virtue of the statement comprising the words 'if found' the principles of natural justice was automatically applied for it clearly meant that some form of inquiry would first have to be performed to determine if the village chiefs were indeed 'unsuitable and incapable'.
Later he pointed out that decisions and commitments made by one state government binds subsequent governments, regardless of whoever takes over.
“Otherwise, there would be war all over the world. Therefore when one government makes a commitment, the commitment is carried forward to the next government,” he said.
Another plaintiff counsel Leong Cheok Keng later submitted that the letters of termination delivered to the village chiefs clearly showed that the group had not in any way given reason for the state government to find that they were “unsuitable or incapable” of carrying out their duties.
“The letter thanks the village chiefs for the duties they had carried out since their appointments last year,” he said.
Both Leong and Yunos were arguing during the final submissions on the judicial review filed in May by former Kampung Sungai Ati village head Mohd Ridzuan Asit from Padang Rengas, seeking for the court to quash the sacking order given by the state government and declare the move as null and void.
The group, who were voted into positions as village chiefs during village elections held during the PR's rule, were dismissed on April 16 this year without reason although their tenures were from Aug 7, 2008, to July 31, 2010.
In Mohd Ridzuan's application, the 43-year-old is also seeking damages and a mandamus order to reinstate him and the rest of the village chiefs back into their posts.
Meanwhile, State Legal Advisor Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid argued that the institution of the village chiefs were “unique” as they were neither bound to any legislature nor any form of contract of service.
“They are political appointments. The court must understand that village chiefs are not government servants who take their oath of office to serve the government of the day,” he said.
He added that the scope of duties of a village chief was to engage the villagers and present their needs to the present state government, as well as to carry out government projects.
“Therefore if they give wrong or false information about the state government to the villagers that they represent, naturally this would have a negative effect of the political situation of the state,” he said.
Ahmad Kamal submitted that since there was no binding legislature governing the post of the village chiefs, no court of law could decide on their appointments of their dismissal.
“Also, although they were voted in by way of the election process, their positions are endorsed and they are appointed by the respondent, meaning the state government and not the mentri besar. Therefore, the state has the right to terminate their duties,” he said.
He added that the appointment letters received by the village heads had merely “administrative and ceremonial” and were not considered as contracts of service.
“I maintain that the power to appoint the village heads rests with the present state government and not any other individual.
“This was why when the PR government took over from BN, the former BN-appointed village chiefs all resigned en bloc, because they were appointed under the BN government,” he said.
Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim set Dec 1 for decision.
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