Appeals Court denies bid to temporarily stay Adib inquest

PUTRAJAYA: The ongoing inquest into the death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim will proceed unimpeded as the Court of Appeal yesterday denied an application to temporarily stay the proceedings.

Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Umi Kalthum Abdul Majid, who chaired a three-man panel, adjourned to March 4 the hearing of the stay application from the ‘Save Seafield Mariamman Temple Task Force’, ruling that the inquest is of public interest.

“We all know that the inquest is for public knowledge, that it is a public interest matter and there are contentious issues. Therefore, the proceedings should not be stayed at any time,” said Justice Umi Kalthum, who sat with Justices Datuk Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal and Datuk Stephen Chung Hian Guan.

Lawyer M. Visvanathan had sought an interim stay of the ongoing inquest pending the hearing proper of the stay but DPP Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar objected, saying that the inquest has to proceed until April 12 as scheduled by the Coroner’s Court.

The Court of Appeal adjourned the hearing of the stay to March 4 to enable the temple task force to file an affidavit of its legal position in the application and for the Attorney-General’s Chambers to file an affidavit-in-reply to the stay application.

The Coroner’s Court has heard the testimony of 13 witnesses during the past eight days of the proceedings.

On Feb 13, the temple task force filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the High Court ruling of Feb 8 upholding the decision of the Coroner’s Court which had rejected the temple task force application to hold a watching brief at the inquest.

The hearing of the appeal at the Court of Appeal has yet to be fixed.

The temple task force also filed an application to stay the proceedings, which was to have been heard yesterday.

The High Court on Feb 8 rejected the temple task force appeal against the Coroner Court’s decision ruling that the party has no interest in the ongoing inquest.

On Jan 31, Coroner Rofiah Mohamad refused the application by the temple task force as an interested party in the inquest on the grounds that it has no clear, substantive and reasonable interests.

The inquest is scheduled for Feb 11 to 28; March 1, 4 and 5; March 19 to 29 and April 1 to 12.