PUTRAJAYA, Jan 7 — The Court of Appeal today dismissed appeals filed by five school teachers and 19 Universiti Malaya (UM) staff who challenged a government’s circular requiring them to undergo compulsory Covid-19 vaccination.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid and Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Harun found no merits in the appeals brought by the two groups.
Delivering the court’s unanimous decision, Justice Ahmad Kamal said the appellants’ contention that the circular were tainted by irrationality, unreasonableness or disproportionality does not hold water.
He said the measures undertaken by the government was intended to curb the spread of Covid-19 and to safeguard public health.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic was a global health crisis that required coordinated efforts by authorities which included vaccination to control transmission.
Justice Ahmad Kamal said the health ministry recorded over 2,000 cases a day in 2021 and reported over 19,000 deaths.
The court awarded the government and the UM registrar RM15,000 each in costs.
On October 27, 2021, the five teachers from five different schools in Terengganu, Kelantan, Melaka and Selangor jointly filed their judicial review application against six respondents - namely the education minister, the education director-general, the Public Service Department (PSD) director-general, the health minister, the health director-general, and the Malaysian government.
The 19 UM staff members on October 29, 2021, separately filed a similar judicial review application against the UM registrar, the PSD director-general, the health minister and the government of Malaysia as respondents.
Among the orders sought by them were to quash a decision to implement Covid-19 vaccination for public servants under the federal government as per the 2021 circular and a declaration that they and other public servants have the freedom to choose whether or not to undergo Covid-19 vaccination.
On Dec 14, 2023, the High Court dismissed their judicial review application, prompting them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
At the Court of Appeal today, senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin and federal counsel Siti Norashikin Hassanor appeared for the government, lawyer Muhammad Amin Anuar, Adrian Yeow, Nurul Zawawi Abd Rahim and Nurazatul Farhana Shahrudin represented the appellants. Lawyer Raja Eileen Soraya Raja Aman and Melanie Lim represented UM registrar. — Bernama
