PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court here yesterday ruled that the DAP-led Penang government did not have the jurisdiction to conduct local government elections.
Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif who chaired a five-member panel said the state government could not unilaterally exempt the application of Section 15 of the Local Government Act 1976 to the whole of Penang.
Section 15 abolishes the rights of the state legislatures to hold local government elections within the states.
He said the Penang state government had exceeded its jurisdiction in making the exemption order which violated the provisions in the Federal Constitution adding that the abolishment of the local government elections was a policy decision undertaken by the National Council for Local Government, thus the Penang state Government in seeking to exempt such policy decision must consult the Council.
Justice Raus who presided the panel with Federal Court judges Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar, Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop, Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali and Datuk Ramly Ali unanimously dismissed the petition brought by Penang state government and former president of the non-governmental organisation, Aliran, P. Ramakrishnan.
In his decision, Justice Raus held that section 10 and Section 15 of the Local Government Act were constitutional.
“Parliament had enacted section 10 and section 15 under powers vested upon it under the Federal Constitution for the purpose of ensuring uniformity of law and policy in relation to local government which includes the local government elections,” he said.
The Penang state government and Ramakrishnan had filed a petition seeking to restore local government elections which were abolished 48 years ago (March 1, 1965).
On June 27, 2013, the Federal Court granted leave to the petitioners’ to proceed with the petition to challenge the validity of the provisions in the Local Government Act which prevented state legislatures from providing for local government elections within the states.
They wanted the court to declare Sections 10 and 15 of the Local Government Act invalid and inconsistent with the Federal Constitution.
In the petition, the state government and Ramakrishnan said local government elections were held in George Town in 1951, conducted by the local authority.
They said the Penang State Legislative Assembly passed the Local Government Elections (Penang Island and Province Wellesley) Enactment 2012 on May 9, last year and gazetted it on July 5, last year.
The Penang Government claimed the newly-passed enactment clothed the Election Commission with sufficient legislative power to conduct local government elections in Penang, and the commission was thereby, validly authorised and required to conduct local government elections within the state.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who was present in court yesterday said the state government would abide by the Federal Court’s decision in accordance with the rule of law.
He said the only recourse available was to convince the Local Government Council to hold elections or wait for a change in the Federal Government.
The petitioners were represented by lawyer Tommy Thomas and the government of Malaysia was represented by senior federal counsel Amarjeet Singh and Alice Loke Yee Ching. — Bernama