Though jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was supposed to appear in court today for the submissions of his hearing against the Election Commission (EC), the order to produce (OTP) Anwar was cancelled on short notice.
As such, his lawyers intend to apply to the court to rescind the cancellation of the OTP.
"My client has a fundamental right under the constitution to be present at the hearing of this appeal and we propose to file a motion moving an order from this court to rescind the administrative order given by the registrar," Anwar's counsel Gopal Sri Ram said at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today.
Sri Ram said they were only informed of the cancellation of the OTP last Friday and received the letter on this matter yesterday.
His fellow counsel N Surendran said the application concerned the right of the litigant to be present at a hearing of his case, even in a civil case.
They will be filing the application within 10 days, Sri Ram said, as they have to make an appointment with the prison to get an affidavit.
"That is a formality with more red tape than one could reasonably expect," Sri Ram, a former Federal Court judge, told the three-member bench.
The federal counsel had no objections to this. The hearing of this application was subsequently fixed for April 24.
Anwar filed a lawsuit against the EC in 2015, seeking a declaration that he is qualified to vote in the Permatang Pauh by-election in the same year and in all future elections.
Then EC chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof had announced in April 2015 that Anwar, who is now serving his five-year jail sentence, was disqualified from casting his ballot.- Mkini
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