PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has deferred its decision in an appeal brought by the government, the Malaysian Armed Forces Council and two other parties against a High Court ruling in favour of pension adjustments for Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) pensioners who retired before Jan 1, 2013.
Justice Datuk Hashim Hamzah, who chaired the three-man panel, informed the parties involved in the appeal that the decision date would be fixed during a case management session to be held on Feb 3.
The panel, which included Datuk Wong Kian Kheong and Datuk Ismail Brahim, heard the appeal brought by the government, the Prime Minister, the Senior Defence Minister and the Malaysian Armed Forces Council.
They are appealing the High Court’s decision that had ruled in favour of 50 retired ATM personnel, who had sued them over pension adjustments for retired personnel who retired before Jan 1, 2013.
During proceedings today, senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi, representing the government and three others, submitted that pension for ATM retirees would be adjusted when there is a salary revision.
He argued that retired ATM personnel are not entitled to pension adjustments after 2012 as there had not been salary revisions until the recent MADANI government introduced the Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA).
Ahmad Hanir, who was assisted by Federal Counsel M.Kogilambigai, said there were five salary revisions from 2002 to 2012 and the government had made adjustments to the ATM retirees’ pensions.
He said the Implementation Guidelines for Amendments to the Terms of Service of the Malaysian Armed Forces and the Implementation Letter on Rank Parity and Improvement of the Minimum Salary Schedule (JGMM) dated March 14, 2013 are not circulars relating to salary revision and the MAF retirees were not entitled to pension adjustment.
“The appellants had given equal treatment to all the MAF’s pensioners irrespective of whether they had retired before Jan 1, 2013 or after Jan 1, 2013 as the pension’s adjustments of all MAF’s pensioners are regulated pursuant to Regulations 54 of the Pensions Regulations 1982.
He argued that the High Court judge erred in law when she drew her own inference that the 2013 Guideline and JGMM had deprived the MAF retirees pensions adjustment.
Lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing the MAF personnel, countered by saying that the government had failed to implement new pension adjustments for all MAF retirees who retired before Jan 1, 2013.
He said there is a significant pension gap between MAF retirees who retired before Jan 1, 2013 and those who retired after Jan 1, 2013.
Mohamed Haniff Khatri said the difference in the amount of pension was due to the approval of a 2013 Guideline which provided among others, changes in the term of service of the MAF members including improvements to their salaries, allowances, and benefits through the implementation of the JGMM.
He, however, said the implementation of JGMM was not applicable to those retirees who retired on or before Jan 1, 2013.
On Feb 5, last year, Judicial Commissioner Dr Suzana Muhamad Said ruled that all MAF retired personnel who retired before January 1, 2013 are entitled to have their pensions adjusted to the rates and methods applied to all MAF retirees who retired after Jan 1, 2013.
She also ruled that the government has violated the provisions under Article 137 and/or Article 8 of the Federal Constitution read together with Section 187 of the Malaysian Armed Forces Act 1972, by failing to make the necessary pension adjustments for all MAF retirees who retired before January 1, 2013.
The 50 MAF personnel of various ranks, including major, lieutenant, staff sergeant and private, filed an originating summons on Nov 17, 2022, seeking a declaration that the defendants had violated the provisions under Article 137 or Article 8 of the Federal Constitution read together with Section 187 of the Malaysian Armed Forces Act 1972 for their respective failures to implement a new pension adjustment for MAF retirees who retired before Jan 1, 2013.
