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©New Straits Times (Used by permission)
by Hafiz Yatim

KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Court will have the final word on whether Dr Badariah Sahamid's appointment as a judicial commissioner is valid.

The High Court here yesterday agreed that the apex court should determine the matter as it involved a constitutional issue.

Judge Datuk Wan Afrah Wan Ibrahim said the court was satisfied that the application met the criteria of Section 84 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 that it involved a constitutional question.

She also ordered a stay in the Bar Council's application seeking to nullify Badariah's appointment until after the matter had been determined by the Federal Court.

Wan Afrah made the decision in her chambers.

The Bar Council was represented by Robert Lazar, while senior federal counsel Suzana Atan represented the government.

The government had made an application last month to refer the Bar's action to the Federal Court as it involved a constitutional issue.

The Bar Council had filed an originating summons on July 27 seeking to declare Badariah's appointment null and void as it had contravened Article 122AB read together with Article 123 of the Constitution.

In a supporting affidavit, Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan had said that the Bar Council believed the appointment had infringed the said articles as Badariah had not been in practice for 10 years preceding her appointment.

She said at the time of her appointment, Badariah was teaching at the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya, and was not a member of the Judicial and Legal Service.

She said the Bar Council had no intention of disparaging Badariah or questioning her intellectual ability, judicial temperament or even her suitability for judicial appointment.

Badariah, 52, was appointed to the bench along with seven others on March 1.

Her field of expertise is banking law, jurisprudence and legal theory.

She will continue to hear cases until the apex court decides on the matter.

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