Pensioners' lawsuit: Govt needs time to settle case through mediation

KUALA LUMPUR: The government needs more time to try to resolve the lawsuit filed by a group of 35 individuals, comprising former members of the judiciary and seven widows of former judges over alleged failure by the government to fix appropriate increase in the pension and benefits they received since 2015, through the mediation process.

The retired judges include former Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, former Chief Judges of Malaya Tan Sri Siti Norma Yaakob and Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Nor, and former Court of Appeal judge Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who is also former Dewan Rakyat Speaker.

They named the Government, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the Director-General of Public Service as the first to fourth defendants.

Counsel Christopher Leong, representing the former judges, said the court set May 26 for further case management for the defendants to inform whether they agreed to settle the case through mediation.

He told this to reporters when contacted after the online case management before High Court Judge Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh today.

"At the case management today, federal counsel M. Kogilambigai (representing the defendants) informed the court that they need more time because they need to discuss with other stakeholders. We (plaintiffs) have no objections," he said.

During the last case management on Feb 14, the High Court suggested for parties in the lawsuit to settle the case through the mediation process and all the parties involved informed the court that they did not have any objection to it.

In the suit, filed last Jan 24, the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that failure to fix through a Government Gazette an appropriate increment of more than two per cent in their pension and other benefits pursuant to Section 15B (2) of the Judges' Remuneration Act 1971 (Act 45 ) has violated Articles 125 (7) and 125 (9) of the Federal Constitution.

The plaintiffs are also seeking an order that the second or third defendant (Prime Minister and the Cabinet, respectively) shall advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to fix a higher increment of more than two per cent annually on the pension and other benefits given to them, effective July 1, 2015 pursuant to Section 15B (2) of Act 45.

The plaintiffs also said that in pursuant to Section 15B of the Judges' Remuneration Act 1971, the pensions of retired judges and dependents of deceased judges were adjusted automatically based on the current salaries of the serving judges which were reviewed in stages from time to time, as required under Articles 125 (7) and 125 (9) of the Federal Constitution.

-- BERNAMA