Malaysia’s apex court rejects 50 military retirees’ bid to appeal a pension adjustment ruling, upholding a previous Court of Appeal decision.
PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court has dismissed an application for leave to appeal by 50 retired Malaysian Armed Forces personnel seeking to overturn a ruling on pension adjustments.
A three-judge bench delivered a 2-1 majority decision to reject the application, with no order as to costs.
Court of Appeal president Datuk Abu Bakar Jais and Federal Court judge Datuk Azimah Omar formed the majority, while Datuk Seri Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera dissented.
Justice Abu Bakar, delivering the majority decision, said the questions proposed by the applicants were factual in nature, not questions of law.
He stated there were no plain errors in the Court of Appeal’s judgment, which had provided extensive reasons for allowing the government’s appeal.
In his dissenting opinion, Justice Vazeer held that the retirees had met the legal threshold and should have been granted leave to appeal.
This decision effectively maintains the Court of Appeal’s earlier ruling in favour of the government.
On June 4 last year, the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision that had favoured the retirees.
The appellate court set aside the ruling that MAF personnel who retired before January 1, 2013, were entitled to pension adjustments matching those who retired after that date.
The Court of Appeal held that the retirees failed to prove the government breached provisions under the Federal Constitution.
The 50 personnel, of various ranks, had filed an originating summons in the High Court in November 2022.
They sought a declaration that the defendants violated constitutional provisions by failing to implement a new pension adjustment for pre-2013 retirees.
The retirees claimed this failure caused a significant pension gap between those who retired before and after January 1, 2013.
Lawyers Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla and Nurul Huda Razali represented the retirees at the Federal Court.
Senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly@Arwi and Federal Counsel Mohammad Sallehuddin Md Ali appeared for the government. – Bernama
