Court upholds reinstatement of PTD officer sacked over remark on Najib's FB

PUTRAJAYA: An administrative and diplomatic (PTD) officer who was sacked for allegedly making an adverse comment about the government on former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak's Facebook post four years ago, gets his job back.

This was after the Federal Court today dismissed the government and the Public Services Commission's (PSC) application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision to reinstate Nazrul Imran Mohd Nor, to his former position.

A three-member bench led by Court of Appeal president, Tan Sri Rohana Yusuf said that the questions of law posed by the appellants ( government and PSC) did not meet the requirements under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 for the court to grant leave.

The other two judges on the bench were Federal Court judges, Datuk Seri Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan.

Counsel Surendra Ananth, who was representing Nazrul Imran, when contacted by reporters confirmed the decision today which was conducted via online.

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"The government's leave application was dismissed by the Federal Court with no order as to costs," the lawyer said.

Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan who appeared for the appellants confirmed the matter.

Nazrul Imran was a PTD officer serving as the second secretary at the Malaysian embassy in Manila when the alleged offence took place.

He had been a PTD officer for eight years when he was told to return to Malaysia after he was found to have made an adverse comment on Najib's Facebook page on Jan 11, 2017 over the sudden death of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem.

Dissatisfied with his reply to a show-cause letter, the PSC sacked Nazrul Imran in February 2017, for violating Regulations 19(1)(b) and 4(2)(d) and (g) of the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993.

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On May 12, 2017, Nazrul Imran filed a judicial review application against the PSC and government to challenge his dismissal on the grounds that the comment was not directed at the government and could not have brought disrepute to the government, within the meaning of the regulations.

He also argued that the use of the regulations by the PSC curtailed his freedom of expression under Article 10(1)(a) of the Federal Constitution and that the decision to dismiss him from public service was irrational and disproportionate.

However, in May 2018, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Nazrul Imran's application for judicial review.

He then appealed against the High Court's decision and on Nov 26, 2020, the Court of Appeal allowed his appeal and ordered the PSC to reinstate Nazrul Imran to his former position.

-- BERNAMA