Selangor govt seeks to recuse two judges

PUTRAJAYA: The Selangor government is seeking to recuse two judges hearing its appeal against the Election Commission (EC) and two others over the redelineation exercise in the state.

It is applying to disqualify Court of Appeal judges Justices Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Kamardin Hashim as both had heard and decided a similar subject matter in two cases.

Following this, Justice Mohd Zawawi said he would refer the recusal application to his superior, Justice Zulkifli Ahmad Makinudin, who is the Court of Appeal president, to decide on the new panel of judges to hear the appeal.

He then adjourned the hearing to next Tuesday.

Another judge on the panel was Justice Vernon Lam Kiat.

Counsel Datuk Dr Cyrus Das and Datuk S. Ambiga acted for the Selangor government while Senior Federal Counsel Alice Loke for the EC, its chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah and secretary Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh.

Das had earlier applied for the recusal of the two judges as there were elements of predetermined issues as a result of the judges sitting on panels on the same issue previously.

He said they had written to the Court of Appeal to identify judges who could not sit for the appeal hearing.

Meanwhile, SFC Loke submitted that there was no reason to recuse Justices Mohd Zawawi and Kamardin as the perception of bias was not the criterion for disqualification.

On Dec 7 last year, High Court judge Justice Azizul Azmi Adnan dismissed the Selangor government’s judicial review application.

In the judicial review filed on Oct 19, 2016, it wants the court to quash the EC’s notice and an order to direct it to publish a fresh notice on the proposed redelineation exercise.

It also wants a declaration that the notice was lacking in details, leading to voters, local authorities or the state government being unable to exercise their constitutional right to file representations.