KUALA LUMPUR, 23 April 2009: Member of Parliament (MP) for Puchong Gobind Singh Deo filed an originating summons at the High Court here today seeking a declaration that his suspension as an MP is null and void.
In his summons filed at the High Corut registry through Messrs Karpal Singh & Co, he claimed tht his one-year suspension effective 16 March violated Article 8 (1) of the Federal Constitution.
He named the Dewan Rakyat Speaker, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, Dewan Rakyat secretary and the Malaysian government as defendants.
He also filed for endorsement for his case to be heard as soon as possible to enable him to attend the next Dewan Rakyat sitting which will start on 16 June.
He seeks to declare that the letter dated 18 March and signed by the Dewan Rakyat secretary, Datuk Roosme Hamzah, suspending him as a MP and stripping him of all the allowances and benefits as an MP is null and void because it is unenforceable under the law.
Gobind, 36, also wants a declaration that he is entitled to all those allowances and benefits under Article 64 and that the proceedings and decision of the Dewan Rakyat on 16 March are not immune to adjudication by the court. He is asking for costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.
In his affidavit, Gobind claimed that the Dewan Rakyat proceedings on 16 March violated human rights because he was not given a chance to counter the allegations in the motion tabled by Mohamed Mohamed Nazri to suspend him and deny him the allowances and benefits as an MP.
He also said that the court had the jurisdiction to scrutise the proceedings of the Dewan Rakyat because Article 64 of the Federal Constitution provided for the mandatory entitlement of an MP to the benefits as an MP.
Gobind’s father, Karpal Singh, who represented him in the case, told reporters that the originating summons was filed following the Federal Court’s decision 16 April that Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar’s suspension of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and his state executive councillors was null and void.
He said that when he was suspended as Jelutong MP on 22 Nov 1984, in connection with his statement on the Sultan of Johor, he was not stopped from receiving his allowances and other benefits. — Bernama
lwy says
Case should then be referred to the Federal Court immediately, before the same 5 judges who declared Perak Speaker’s suspension orders as invalid.
Sauce for the goose…