More time for lawyer, bar to settle suit

0

KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer, the Malaysian Bar and Bar Council were given more time by the High Court here yesterday to resolve the suit by the former who is challenging the legality of a notice issued by the Bar for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

Justice Datuk John Louis O’Hara set March 13 for further case management of the suit after meeting counsel Tommy Thomas acting for the defendants (Bar and Council) and plaintiff Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz’s lead counsel Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman, in his chambers today.

“Justice O’Hara gave us more time to look into ways to resolve the matter out of court before the Bar’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on March 16,” Abdul Aziz told reporters.

Abdul Aziz said he received a letter from Thomas yesterday morning that the matter will be brought before the AGM for a resolution to the issue brought up by Mohd Khairul.

“As far we are concerned, we wanted this court to address the issue highlighted by Mohd Khairul whether the Bar was a public authority as stated in Section 160(2) of the Legal Profession Act 1976,” stressed the senior counsel.

He said both defendants only failed to comply with Article 152 of the Federal Constitution where for all official purposes, the Malay language should used as official language. Section 2 of the National Language Act 1963/67, stressed the same fact.

Mohd Khairul Azam filed the action on May 16, last year, seeking among others, to declare that the notice issued by the defendants on May 4 to call for the EGM was illegal and breached the Legal Profession Act 1976.

In his statement of claim, Mohd Khairul Azam, a member of the Malaysian Bar and Bar Council, contended that the notice to call for the EGM was issued less than seven days before May 11, hence council members were not appropriately notified. — Bernama