Court rejects teachers, UM staff’s bid for judicial review of compulsory Covid-19 vaccination

KUALA LUMPUR: The Shah Alam High Court on Thursday (Dec 14) dismissed two judicial review applications filed by five school teachers and 19 Universiti Malaya (UM) staff against the government’s circular that made it compulsory for them to undergo vaccination against the Covid-19 virus.

Senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin when confirming the matter said Judge Shahnaz Sulaiman made the decision with no order as to costs during an online proceeding.

“The court ruled that the service circular did not impinge upon any constitutional rights of the applicants (teachers and UM staff).

“As a public servant, unless they fall under the medical ineligible exception, they are bound to comply with the service circular which is legal and serving a legitimate, public health purpose,” said Liew.

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On May 24 last year, the two groups obtained leave to initiate a judicial review application from the High Court to quash the government’s directive to implement the programme based on circulars sent to them.

On Oct 27, 2021, the five teachers from five different schools in the county 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 Oct 29, 2021, separately filed a similar judicial review application seeking nine main court orders and named the UM registrar, the PSD Director-General, the Health Minister and the Government of Malaysia as respondents.

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Both groups claimed that as public servants they must be given the freedom to choose whether to participate in the programme or not.

They said the government’s move to compel them to take vaccines went against their basic rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

Apart from that, they also want the government to provide them with the outcome of clinical trials on all vaccines used and on all side effects reported since the start of the immunisation programme last year.

All 24 applicants have taken the position that the government’s decision to administer vaccines without their consent is unlawful, irrational and unconstitutional. – BK