In allowing an appeal by Amirul Fairuz Ahmad, a three-member bench chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Zabidin Diah held that a company cannot alter the findings of a domestic inquiry panel without undertaking adjudicatory function.
Institute of Technology Petronas Sdn Bhd and UTP were named as respondents. The company is the owner of the university.
Last year, Amirul obtained leave from the apex court to appeal against the Court of Appeal ruling that held that the company’s decision to terminate him was lawful.
The final appeal was heard based on a single question of whether a company can alter the findings of a domestic inquiry panel without undertaking adjudicatory function.
The Federal Court held that the company and the university cannot arbitrarily substitute the findings of its domestic inquiry, which had found Amirul not guilty, without giving him an opportunity to defend himself.
Zabidin said this is in line with the principles of natural justice.
“If the company is unhappy with the decision, then it must form a new panel and reconvene fresh proceedings. The employee will be able to defend himself once again, ” he said in the ruling delivered on Thursday.
Zabidin said the bench was of the view that the so-called “unentitled claim” was never part of the charge against Amirul, adding that the university had ignored its own domestic inquiry findings without any reason.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli and Justice Mary Lim were in the panel that heard the appeal.
The bench also ordered the respondents to pay RM100,000 in costs to Amirul, who was represented by Raam Kumar, Mohan Ramakrishnan and Norleena Jamal.
S Ravichandran and Chaw Kim Hang appeared for the respondents.
Amirul was served with a show cause letter on Oct 22, 2015, and later appeared before a domestic inquiry to answer two charges of misconduct.
However, the proceeding went on based on a single charge that he had on Aug 5, 2015, attempted to make a fraudulent dental claim for RM95 to the university’s group insurer AIA.
Instead, it was alleged that such treatment was received by his wife at a private dental clinic in Ipoh three months earlier.
The domestic inquiry panel found him not guilty of the charge. However, the university reversed the decision of the domestic inquiry and decided to terminate Amirul’s employment contract.
The respondents also dismissed his appeal on June 5, 2016.
On Feb 27, 2019, the Industrial Court held that the dismissal was without just cause and excuse, ruling that Amirul be awarded RM181,171.69 as back wages and compensation in lieu of reinstatement.
Institute of Technology Petronas then filed a judicial review application to quash the ruling but the High Court dismissed it on Jan 20, 2020. However, the Court of Appeal later allowed the company’s appeal.