Federal Counsel M Kogilambigai said the date was fixed after a virtual case management before deputy registrar Rasidah Roslee today.
FMT understands the government has filed two legal questions to obtain leave from the Federal Court.
Question one was whether it is a permissible curtailment under the Federal Constitution to ensure political neutrality of public service, to prohibit a public officer from making a statement that may embarrass or bring disrepute to the government.
The second question was whether the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993, being a subsidiary legislation, is incapable of curtailing the freedom of expression under Article 10(2) of the Constitution.
Nazrul Imran Mohd Nor was an administration and diplomatic (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 about Najib on his Facebook page on Jan 11, 2017.
He is alleged to have said: “Kesian. Hilang kwn, hilang deposit.” ( which translates to “Pity. You lost a friend, and deposit.”)
The post in the ex-prime minister’s Facebook page was in response to Najib expressing his condolences to the family of then Sarawak chief minister Adenan Satem following the latter’s sudden demise.
Dissatisfied with his reply to a show-cause letter, the Public Service Commission (PSC) sacked Nazrul on Feb 13, 2017, for violating Regulations 19(1)(b) and 4(2)(d) and (g) of the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993.
He then filed a judicial review against the PSC and the government at the Kuala Lumpur High Court but it was dismissed in May 2018 by judge Azizah Mohd Nawawi.
However, a three-member Court of Appeal bench comprising Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah, Abu Bakar Jais and Darryl Goon Siew Chye last November ordered the PSC to reinstate Nazrul to his former position.
In its judgment, the bench ruled the regulations had restricted Imran’s constitutional right and his dismissal from service was unreasonable, irrational and the punishment too harsh.