KOTA KINABALU, Nov 1 — Amid a court declaration that the appointment of the present Sabah Water Department director was illegal, the Sabah government said today water engineer Datuk Amarjit Singh’s appointment still stands.
Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony said the decision remains so until a specific instruction is given for him to take leave, and it is up to the court to issue such a decision.
“For us in the state government, the case is now being brought to court, so we will wait for a decision. At the moment, there are no court instructions asking the director to take leave, or that he cannot go to the office. So he still can go to his office and carry out his duties as normal.
“He is still the director,” said Peter when speaking to reporters after opening the new Penampang bypass flyover here.
He said that the state government will abide by any court decision but that there was no present instruction on the matter.
“As we know, we are basing this on our state enactment, but we will wait for the court proceeding. We will inform you of any decision,” he said.
On October 9, in a suit brought by former chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee and Tawau businessman Pang Thou Chung, High Court judge Ravinthran Paramaguru here declared that the political appointment of Amarjit was in contravention of Section 3 of the state’s Water Supply Enactment 2003 which states that senior posts in the department had to be given to a member of the civil service.
The High Court, however, fell short of nullifying all actions done by the director in its ruling, nor did it say that Amarjit had to take leave.
Since then, Sabah chief minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal acknowledged there was “some kind of contravention” but there was no specific mention that Amarjit’s appointment was “illegal”.
He said that the state government would “put it right” and appoint Amarjit on a contractual basis, technically making him a public servant and therefore qualified to be appointment to the director’s post.
However, de facto law minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong had also defended the appointment and said that Section 3(2) of the law, referring to a senior officer post, did not apply to Amarjit.
He said that the state government, through the state attorney general would appeal the decision.
However, Yong today said that the Sabah government has yet to file any notice of appeal against the court declaration, just a week due to the deadline.
“It has been three weeks since the court declaration that the appointment of the director was illegal. The filing of a notice is a simple matter that takes less than a day. But yet the government, like its other administrative functions, seem to be in paralysis. The government and the illegal director now have only one week left to file their appeal,” he said in a statement here.
Yong said that the delay in filing the appeal is in stark contrast to the super-efficient illegal appointment of the director of the Water Department last year.
“As comparison, the appointments of village heads and district councillors had taken several months but the appointment of the Water Department Director was completed in one single day,” he said.
Yong said that if the state government continues to defy its own laws — referring to the Water Supply Enactment 2003 — and the High Court declaration, other legal actions on the same matter will possibly arise.
“These legal actions could result in the State Secretary, the Director of Establishment (responsible for the public service) and the Public Service Commission being subpoenaed to give evidence in open court on the very strange circumstances surrounding the illegal appointment of the Water Department director,” he said.
