Court dismisses senior lawyer's appeal to appear in Sabah court

KOTA KINABALU: The Appeals Court here today dismissed a senior lawyer's appeal to appear in a Sabah court as lead counsel for Paramaha Enterprise Sdn Bhd & 11 other appellants over a civil appeal between Paramaha Enterprise Sdn Bhd & 11 others and the Government of the State of Sabah & Anor.
The panel consisting the President of the Court of Appeal, Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Justices Datuk Zaharah Ibrahim and Datuk David Wong Dak Wah disallowed the appeal for Ad-Hoc admission by Ansari Abdullah on behalf of Datuk Gopal Sri Ram, a former Federal Court Judge.
The Court of Appeal in making the decision argued that they had no cause to disturb the original discretion of the High Court Judge, who had unfettered and absolute discretion in granting or not granting permission for a lawyer to act as Ad-Hoc Counsel to appear in the Courts of Sabah under Section 10 (c) of the Advocates Ordinance and on the intention Art 161 B of the Federal Constitution to protect and develop the local Bar.
On Jan 20, 2014, High Court Judge Ravinthran Paramaguru dismissed the application citing the above reasons.
Appearing for the Sabah Law Association (SLA) was its President Datuk GBB Nandy @ Gaanesh and Immediate Past President Datuk John Sikayun.
The State Attorney-General was represented by Nor Aishah Mohd Yusof while the appellant Ansari Abdullah represented himself. – Bernama