FMT:
5-year-old ‘citizen’ denied birth cert despite court order, says lawyer
On May 18, the High Court ordered JPN’s director-general to issue the document within 30 days.
The national registration department says there are ‘special circumstances’ which warrant a stay of the High Court order issued on May 18 declaring the child a citizen.
KUALA LUMPUR: The national registration department (JPN) has failed to comply with a court order requiring it to issue a birth certificate to a five-year-old boy by June 17, lawyer Marcus Lee claims.
This is despite the father going to the department three times since the decision was handed down on May 18.
“The father also brought along his son to get the certificate to reflect his status as a citizen, but officers said they were under instructions not to entertain the application,” he told FMT.
Lee said the JPN director-general had failed to comply with the court order which required the birth certificate to be issued within 30 days.
He said although an application to stay the High Court order is pending, no ad interim injunction was sought to prevent its issue pending the hearing.
The stay application was scheduled to be heard today, but was postponed at the request of federal counsel to enable the government to file an affidavit in reply.
Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh has now fixed a case management on July 6.
JPN’s director-general Zamri Misman claims there are “special circumstances” which warrant a grant of the stay of the High Court order pending the disposal of the government’s appeal.
In an affidavit supporting the application, Zamri claimed the order would become nugatory and academic should the appeal succeed in the Court of Appeal.
Zamri also said matters may become complicated if the document needs to be revoked later.
In his ruling, Wan Ahmad said he took cognisance of a DNA report, which was not disputed by JPN, confirming that the boy was the biological son of the applicant, a Malaysian citizen.
The judge said the boy had fulfilled all requirements of Article 14 of the Federal Constitution, read with paragraph 1(a) of Part II to its First Schedule, making him a citizen “by operation of law”.
Before filing the suit, the father had, in November 2021, applied to JPN for his son’s birth certificate to reflect his Malaysian citizenship, but received no reply.
Despite a letter of demand sent in March last year, JPN rejected his application.
The father then filed for judicial review in June last year, seeking a declaration that the boy is a citizen by operation of law.
In his affidavit in support of the application, the father, a 27-year-old hawker, said his son was born in July 2018 at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur, a month before his marriage to the boy’s Vietnamese mother was registered.
KUALA LUMPUR: The national registration department (JPN) has failed to comply with a court order requiring it to issue a birth certificate to a five-year-old boy by June 17, lawyer Marcus Lee claims.
This is despite the father going to the department three times since the decision was handed down on May 18.
“The father also brought along his son to get the certificate to reflect his status as a citizen, but officers said they were under instructions not to entertain the application,” he told FMT.
Lee said the JPN director-general had failed to comply with the court order which required the birth certificate to be issued within 30 days.
He said although an application to stay the High Court order is pending, no ad interim injunction was sought to prevent its issue pending the hearing.
The stay application was scheduled to be heard today, but was postponed at the request of federal counsel to enable the government to file an affidavit in reply.
Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh has now fixed a case management on July 6.
JPN’s director-general Zamri Misman claims there are “special circumstances” which warrant a grant of the stay of the High Court order pending the disposal of the government’s appeal.
In an affidavit supporting the application, Zamri claimed the order would become nugatory and academic should the appeal succeed in the Court of Appeal.
Zamri also said matters may become complicated if the document needs to be revoked later.
In his ruling, Wan Ahmad said he took cognisance of a DNA report, which was not disputed by JPN, confirming that the boy was the biological son of the applicant, a Malaysian citizen.
The judge said the boy had fulfilled all requirements of Article 14 of the Federal Constitution, read with paragraph 1(a) of Part II to its First Schedule, making him a citizen “by operation of law”.
Before filing the suit, the father had, in November 2021, applied to JPN for his son’s birth certificate to reflect his Malaysian citizenship, but received no reply.
Despite a letter of demand sent in March last year, JPN rejected his application.
The father then filed for judicial review in June last year, seeking a declaration that the boy is a citizen by operation of law.
In his affidavit in support of the application, the father, a 27-year-old hawker, said his son was born in July 2018 at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur, a month before his marriage to the boy’s Vietnamese mother was registered.
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kt comments:
Here is a citizen (DG JPN) who has the audacity and arrogance to defy a court's orders on the flimsy excuse of unmentioned "special circumstances". He should immediately be jailed for contempt of court!
Not the first time!
ReplyDeleteRemember that mamak igp refusing to complied with the high court order to Indira Gandhi? To the extent that a mandamus is issued to compel a public officer to carry out his public duty!
Yet, nothing happened both to that case & that igp!
Wondering what gave these mfering public servants the audacity to do so.