Ag Fails To Stop Challenge To Govt S Covid 19 Vaccination Programme

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The Court of Appeal allowed a group of university staff and five teachers to challenge the government’s directive compelling them to be vaccinated against Covid-19.PUTRAJAYA: The attorney-general (AG) has failed in his appeal to stop a group of Universiti Malaya (UM) academic and administrative staff and five teachers from challenging the government’s Covid-19 vaccination programme.
A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Justice Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera said the High Court was right to grant the applicants leave for the merits of the case to be heard.
Justice Shahnaz Sulaiman had ruled in the applicants’ favour on May 26 last year.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan confirmed today’s decision to FMT.
“The bench wants the merits of the applicants’ complaints to be heard as the matter is not totally academic,” he said.
Justices Mariana Yahya and Zaini Mazlan were the other members who heard the AG’s appeal.
As the guardian of public interest, the AG may appear to oppose an application for leave to initiate a judicial review on the grounds that the application is frivolous or vexatious.
The two groups filed applications for leave in the Shah Alam High Court in October 2021 for an order to quash the government’s directive to implement the programme based on circulars sent to them.
The 19 UM applicants named the university’s registrar, the public services department (JPA) and its director-general, Khairul Adib Abd Rahman, the health ministry and Putrajaya as respondents.
The five teachers, hailing from different parts of the country, filed a similar application.
They named the education and health ministers and their respective ministries, Khairul and the federal government as respondents.
In the applications and affidavits sighted by FMT, both groups said that as public servants, they must be given the freedom to choose whether to take part in the vaccination programme.
They said the government’s move to compel them to take vaccines went against their basic rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. - FMT

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