The former prime minister’s lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla today said the Chief Justice’s Office allowed the application via a letter recently.
“We will be there to hold the watching brief and follow the proceeding,” he told reporters after March 2 was fixed to hear the motion by the Malaysian Bar and the Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS).
Usually, lawyers holding a watching brief for interested parties in a case cannot take an active part unless invited by the court.
The High Court on Nov 6 dismissed Mahathir’s application for leave to challenge the appointments of Chief Justice Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal President Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin.
However, on Dec 19, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur allowed the Bar’s move to get the Federal Court to determine the validity of the appointments of Raus and Zulkefli as additional judges and subsequently remain in their current administrative posts.
On that day, the Muslim Lawyers Association successfully applied to be intervener, meaning the association’s counsel could make submissions as a matter of right.
The High Court in Kuching had, on Jan 29, given the green light for AAS to join in the Bar’s challenge.
Meanwhile, the Bar today filed in the Federal Court the motion to compel Chief Judge of Malaya Ahmad Maarop to advise the king to appoint at least nine retired judges to decide whether Raus and Zulkefli’s appointments were constitutional.
The action followed the Bar’s stand adopted at its extraordinary general meeting on Aug 3 that serving Federal Court judges should not hear the matter as they would be placed in a position of conflict of interest.
The motion requires Ahmad to advise the king under Article 122 (1A) of the Federal Constitution to appoint persons who had held high judicial office as additional judges to rule on the legal challenge.
Ahmad’s name was suggested to advise the king as Raus and Zulkefli will also be in a position of conflict of interest.
The motion said Ahmad could invoke Article 131A, read together with Section 9 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964, which allows the most senior judge to exercise the powers of the chief justice during his incapacity or absence.
Lawyer Farez Jinnah said sealed copies of the motion would be served on all the parties named in their principle suit filed on Nov 10.
They are Raus, Zulkefli, former chief justice Arifin Zakaria and the government of Malaysia.
Bar secretary Chan Weng Kang, who affirmed an affidavit in support of the action, contended that Raus and Zulkefli could not remain as chief justice and Court of Appeal president respectively beyond the retirement age.
The Bar argued it was also unconstitutional for Prime Minister Najib Razak to participate in the decision-making process as he was currently an active litigant in several cases.
Muslim lawyers group wants to assist in appointment of CJ case