Government wins appeal over RM1.7 bln pension adjustment order

PUTRAJAYA (March 9): The government has succeeded in its appeal to set aside a High Court decision that ordered it to pay pension arrears amounting to RM1.7 billion to 531,976 pensioners based on their final salary according to the 2016 Public Services Department Circular.

The decision was made by a three-member bench of the Court of Appeal comprising Justices Datuk Lim Chong Fong, Datuk Azhahari Kamal Ramli and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid in a judicial review application filed by Aminah Ahmad, who retired as a civil servant with the Foreign Ministry.

Reading out the unanimous decision, Justice Azhahari said the issue of pension adjustments had already been decided by a previous Court of Appeal in 2022 in relation to Aminah’s first legal action (originating summons (OS)) in 2017.

Following today’s decision, the government does not have to pay the amount to the pensioners.

Aminah filed the judicial review application on Jan 12, 2024, in her own capacity and on behalf of 56 retired members of the public service.

Justice Azhahari said Aminah’s pension entitlement and her entitlement to the arrears, which were the subject matter of the 2017 OS, had been determined by the Court of Appeal.

“Hence, issue estoppel would prevent her from relitigating the same issue at the judicial review’s application. Even if res judicata does not apply, the court should also consider whether the doctrine of abuse of process is applicable to the facts of the case,” he noted.

Justice Azhahari said, in the present appeal, the High Court judge in the judicial review application did not correctly consider the doctrine of abuse of process.

“In our view, the High Court judge fell into error when he merely considered the applicability of the doctrine of res judicata only, without correctly considering the doctrine of abuse of process and applying it to the facts of the case,” he said.

According to the judge, Aminah had not appealed against the decision of the High Court judge in the 2017 OS that she had failed to prove her losses as a result of Sections 3 and 7 of the Pensions Adjustment Act (Amendment) 2013 (PAA 2013) (2013 Amendment Act).

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