KUALA LUMPUR: Penang Opposition leader and Penaga assemblyman Datuk Azhar Ibrahim yesterday failed in his bid to quash an order for him to vacate the Penaga assemblyman’s community service centre.
High Court Judge Datuk Rohana Yusuf dismissed in chambers his judicial review application to challenge the order issued by the Seberang Perai Utara District officer.
In the application filed in December last year, Azhar had named the Seberang Perai Utara District Officer and the Penang government as respondents.
He had sought a court declaration that the order by the District officer, through a letter dated Nov 8, 2010, for him to vacate the Penaga assemblyman’s community service centre on or before Nov 19 last year was null and void.
Speaking to reporters later, Counsel Jenine Gill representing the two respondents said the judge had ruled that the applicant (Azhar) had no legal right to challenge the order.
However, he said Azhar at the moment need not vacate the community service centre as the court had granted his counsel, Datuk Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos, an interim stay of the ruling pending hearing of a formal stay application.
In his application for judicial review, Azhar had stated that the service centre, which began operation in 2006 when Barisan Nasional was ruling Penang, was specially built to be used as a venue for various activities for the benefit and interests of the people in Penaga.
He said the service centre continued to operate as normal when DAP took over the state government but on Nov 18, 2010 he was ordered by the Seberang Perai Utara District Officer to return the keys to the premises.
Azhar claimed that on Nov 16, 2010, he sent a letter to the district officer to review the order, but had not received any response from him or the state government until today.
He said, he had yet to surrender the keys to the service centre to the Seberang Perai Utara district officer.
He also claimed that the order was politically motivated because he was an opposition assemblyman. — Bernama