Retired soldiers lose final bid to challenge pension ruling

The Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal's earlier ruling in the government's favour, saying the legal questions raised by the applicants were not questions of law.

Two judges at the Federal Court rejected the leave to appeal by 50 retired army personnel, while one dissented. (Pexels pic)

PUTRAJAYA:

 The Federal Court today dismissed an application for leave to appeal by 50 retired army personnel, who were seeking to overturn a ruling on pension adjustments.

A three-man bench comprising Court of Appeal president Abu Bakar Jais and Federal Court judges Azimah Omar and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera made the ruling in a 2-1 majority decision.

Abu Bakar and Azimah formed the majority, while Vazeer delivered a dissenting decision. The court made no order as to costs.said the questions raised by the applicants were not questions of law, but were factual matters.

He said there were no plain errors in the Court of Appeal’s judgment, noting that the appellate court had provided extensive reasons for allowing the government’s appeal.

In his dissenting judgment, Vazeer held that the retirees had met the threshold requirements under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 and should be granted leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision.

The ruling effectively upholds the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision in favour of the government.

On June 4 last year, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s ruling that had granted pension adjustments to armed forces retirees who retired before Jan 1, 2013, aligning them with the rates and methods applied to retirees who retired after Jan 1, 2013.

The appellate court allowed appeals by the government, the prime minister, the defence minister and the Malaysian Armed Forces Council to set aside the High Court’s decision. The retirees then sought leave to appeal in the Federal Court.

The Court of Appeal had ruled that the army retirees failed to prove the respondents breached the provisions under the Federal Constitution.

Fifty army retirees of various ranks, including majors, lieutenants, staff sergeants and privates, filed an originating summons in the High Court on Nov 17, 2022. They sought a declaration that the defendants had violated the Federal Constitution, read together with Section 187 of the Malaysian Armed Forces Act 1972, by failing to implement a new pension adjustment for those who retired before Jan 1, 2013.

They claimed the government’s failure had created a significant pension gap between those who retired before and after Jan 1, 2013.

Lawyers Haniff Khatri Abdulla and Nurul Huda Razali represented the retirees, while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly@Arwi and federal counsel Sallehuddin Ali appeared for the government. - FMT