Nizar's stay application fixed for Monday

Nizar's stay application fixed for Monday
Hafiz Yatim | May 13, 09 2:58pm
The Court of Appeal has fixed Monday, May 18, to hear Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin's application to set aside the stay order given by the appellate court yesterday.

This comes after Nizar filed a notice of motion, along with a certificate of urgency and his affidavit in support of the application which was filed at the Court of Appeal registry at 2.20pm today.

Unlike Zambry's application yesterday which was given the special treatment with the Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail's presence and counsel Cecil Abraham along with Umno lawyers Mohd Hafarizam Harun and Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, managing to have the application heard immediately, the rival menteri besar's application to get an early hearing date was only known close to 5pm

Nizar's application was filed by the law firm of Leong and Tan, from Perak.

Among others, the Pakatan leader is seeking to set aside the Court of Appeal's stay order which Zambry had obtained yesterday following Monday's Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling that Nizar is the rightful menteri besar.

Alternatively, Nizar is seeking the Court of Appeal to impose varied conditions on the stay order which Justice Ramly Ali did not allowed yesterday.

He is also seeking costs and other relief deemed necessary by the Court of Appeal.

Yesterday, Ramly, the solitary Court of Appeal judge to hear Zambry's application allowed an order for a stay of the declaratory orders which Mohammad Nizar has obtained.

Ramly also did not allow counsel Sulaiman Abdullah, for Nizar, to apply to the appellate court to impose conditions on the stay order.

Nizar: KL High Court says I am MB

In Nizar's affidavit in support of the application, he said after four days of hearing, the Kuala Lumpur High Court in its judgment allowed the following declarations namely:

(1) He (Nizar) is the rightful menteri besar of Perak at all material times;

(2) There was no dissolution of the Perak legislative assembly;

(3) There was no motion of no-confidence made against him at the Perak legislative assembly; and

(4) He did not resign the post as menteri besar.

Nizar noted that after the judgment delivered by Justice Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim, the judge did not grant an oral application by Zambry's lawyers and he immediately assume the post as menteri besar.

The Pakatan leader also stated the grounds for his application to set aside the stay order namely there were no merits for the application, as there was no motion of no-confidence tabled against him at the assembly, and that the menteri besar cannot be expelled based on Article 16(6) of the Perak constitution.

He also stated that there is a possibilty that Ramly had wrongly read or may have erred in reading the High Court judgment, as the case before the Court of Appeal was made hurriedly.

Declaratory order cannot be stayed

Nizar also stated that the declaratory order cannot be stayed in its application, and the appellate court had given a wrong order in allowing for a stay. Following this, he said this application is made to correct the situation.

He also claimed that special circumstances were in his favour as Zambry could be considered as an usurper menteri besar following the Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment and the move by the appellate court had violated his rights and the High Court's decision.

It had also hindered the administration of the Perak state based on the state constitution, and that the rakyat and its civil servants are confused as to who is the rightful menteri besar following the appellate court's decision.

He also claimed the decision yesterday, had resulted in an unstable political situation in Perak.

Nizar said his application would not prejudice Zambry's stay application as it is an “office of trust” and that his application to seek a dissolution would have to be decided by the sultan.

Futhermore, the Pakatan leader claimed the High Court had decided that Zambry at all material times was not the rightful menteri besar.