PUTRAJAYA, April 17 — The Federal Court today rejected the police and government’s application to obtain leave to appeal against the High Court decision to reinstate a police chief inspector to his position after he was dismissed from the police force for disciplinary misconduct.
A three-member bench comprising Federal Court judges Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin, Datuk Rohana Yusuf and Datuk Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim unanimously dismissed the application for leave to appeal brought by the then inspector-general of police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, the Bukit Aman Disciplinary Board and the government.
Justice Alizatul who chaired the bench held that the applicants failed to meet the threshold requirement under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.
She ordered the applicants to pay RM10,000 costs.
Following this Federal Court’s verdict, the High Court’s decision which ordered Selamat Rasumin’s reinstatement to his position in the police force is upheld. He will also receive backdated salary, allowances and other interest.
On April 16, 2015, Selamat, 54, who was with the Pontian District Police as head of the Narcotics Division, received a letter from the then IGP informing him that he had been dismissed from the force effective March 26, 2015, after he was found guilty of the first three charges of misconduct while on duty between 2008 and 2009.
He was given a warning for the other three charges.
Selamat filed a judicial review on July 8, 2015, seeking a certiorari order to quash the board’s decision to dismiss him and a declaration that he was still an officer in the force, naming Khalid, the Bukit Aman Disciplinary Board and the government as respondents.
The High Court allowed his judicial review application and ruled that his dismissal was unlawful.
The court (High Court) also allowed his (Selamat’s) claim for an investigation to determine the backdated salary, allowances and other interest that he should receive from the date he had been dismissed.
In her decision, the then High Court judge Datuk Hanipah Farikullah (now Court of Appeal judge), ruled that Selamat’s cautioned statement under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) was unlawfully recorded because the disciplinary investigation officer had used the special powers of an investigating officer in a criminal case to record his statement.
On July 5, last year, the Court of Appeal dismissed the applicants’ appeal and upheld the High Court decision.
Selamat was represented by lawyer G. Subramaniam Nair while senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan appeared for the applicants. — Bernama
