Sivakumar sues state legal adviser

V. Sivakumar filed a suit at the High Court here against his state legal adviser for acting without his authority in Tuesday’s proceedings which saw a restraining order being issued against the Perak Speaker.

In his suit, filed Friday afternoon, Sivakumar is seeking a declaration that state legal adviser Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid acted without his authority, purporting to represent him during the hearing of the injunction application at the Ipoh High Court.

The application was filed by Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, who was seeking a declaration that Sivakumar’s suspension of him and his six executive council members was illegal.

Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim heard submissions in chambers, after which he granted an order to indefinitely restrain Sivakumar from convening any unlawful meetings purporting to be State Assembly meetings.

In a separate proceeding earlier Tuesday, Ridwan had told Sivakumar, who was being represented by five lawyers led by Tommy Thomas, that his team had no locus standi to represent him or any State Assembly member.

Ridwan said that Sivakumar was considered “part of the government” and therefore only the state legal adviser could act for him.

Sivakumar, in a separate statement later, said that he had not communicated with or authorised the state legal adviser to represent him. He was ultimately represented by assistant state legal adviser Zulkarnain Hassan.

In his suit filed Friday, Sivakumar is also seeking a declaration that the state legal adviser had acted negligently, in breach of contract and in breach of duty, resulting in the injunction being granted against him.

He is also seeking a declaration that the state legal had adviser acted in breach of his fiduciary duties to Sivakumar when he appeared as counsel for the hearing of the state injunction application on March 3.

Finally, he is also seeking a declaration that the order made against him on Tuesday in the first proceedings was a sham and should be considered “null and void” and not binding.

Earlier Friday, Sivakumar also filed appeals against the decision of the Ipoh High Court that disallowed him from appointing his own counsel. (The Star)