Sri Ram to act for Perak Pakatan over polls petitions

As the deadline to file election petitions elapsed yesterday, there was one notable name which may have sent waves in the legal fraternity, namely, former Federal Court judge Gopal Sri Ram.

Justice Sri Ram - who retired from the apex court in February 2010 - is set to represent Perak Pakatan Rakyat in several of its petition applications in court.

Sri Ram, 69, was a practising lawyer who then became the first person to be directly appointed to the Court of Appeal from legal practice, and then was made a Federal Court judge in 2009.

The other person who broke the record was former Chief Justice (CJ) Zaki Azmi, who rose from public practice to become a Federal Court judge, and later CJ.

His name is written in several of the Perak petition applications, and he is expected to appear in court.

PAS central committee member Mohd Hanipa Maidin (right) - who is one of the party's legal adviser - confirmed with Malaysiakini the Federal Court judge is one of the senior lawyers who would act for them in three cases in Perak.

"All in all, there are six election petitions filed in Perak - all of them involving state seats. 

"Three of them are being handled by the party's legal team and the remaining three are through our volunteer lawyers that include the eminent Gopal (Sri Ram)," said Hanipa, who is also Sepang MP.

Another source familiar with the Perak Pakatan petitions confirmed with Malaysiakinithat Sri Ram (left) is set to appear in court for these cases.

PAS has filed six election petitions in Perak - involving Pasir Panjang, Manjoi, Lubuk Merbau, Rungkup, Selama and Manong.

Meanwhile, PKR has filed one election petition involving the Tapah parliamentary seat.

The Perak Pakatan election petition applications are seen as pivotal, because if Pakatan is successful, it can change the ruling government.

BN won in 31 state seats, while Pakatan has 28 seats. A switch of two out of six in the petition cases would result in a change in government.

Sri Ram not involved in Perak case
As the silver-producing state faces the constitutional crisisimbroglio - following a change of government in February 2009 - Sri Ram had not been involved in any of the appeals up to the Federal Court.

Former Perak MB Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin had asked for a full bench of 11 judges to hear its appeal, but this was rejected by the apex court.

In the Federal Court, Nizar's (right) appeal was heard and rejected by then Court of Appeal president Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, Chief Judge of Malaya Arifin Zakaria (now CJ), and Federal Court judges Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin (now Chief Judge of Malaya), Mohd Ghazali Mohd Yusof (retired) and Abdull Hamid Embong (still Federal Court).

Hence, there should not be any problems for Gopal to act for Pakatan should BN lawyers object to his presence in the cases.

The former federal court judge, among others, is noted for giving oral judgments on the spot after listening to submissions.

He was also controversially involved at the Court of Appeal's judgment in the Metramac case against former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin's running of the ministry "like it's a coffee shop".

Eventually, the remarks made by Sri Ram against Daim wereexpunged.

Nonetheless, Sri Ram is best known for his numerous sound judgments which still stand and are continuously being referred to.