KUALA LUMPUR: The government and a group of 35 individuals comprising retired judges and dependents have a month to settle a pension-related lawsuit.
The High Court instructed this during case management held online before Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh here yesterday.
Lawyer Christopher Leong, who represented the plaintiffs, said the court gave both parties time to discuss a settlement and update the court on March 5.
The plaintiffs filed the suit on Jan 24, 2022.
They include retired judges; former Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, former Chief Judges of Malaya Tan Sri Siti Norma Yaakob and Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Nor, and former Court of Appeal judge Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who is also former Dewan Rakyat Speaker.
They named the Government, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and the director-general of Public Service as the first to fourth defendants.
The group is seeking a declaration that the defendants had violated Articles 125 (7) and 125 (9) of the Federal Constitution when it failed to fix an appropriate increment of more than 2% in their pension and other benefits pursuant to Section 15B (2) of the Judges’ Remuneration Act 1971 (Act 45) through a Government Gazette.
The plaintiffs are also seeking an order that the second or third defendant (Prime Minister and the Cabinet, respectively) shall advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to fix an increment of more than 2% annually on the pension and other benefits given to them, effective July 1, 2015 pursuant to Section 15B (2) of Act 45.
The plaintiffs also said that pursuant to Section 15B of the Judges’ Remuneration Act 1971, the pensions of retired judges and dependents of deceased judges were adjusted automatically based on the current salaries of the serving judges, reviewed in stages, as required under Articles 125 (7) and 125 (9) of the Federal Constitution.
