Teacher with aquaphobia dismissed over four-year absence fails to get leave to appeal

PUTRAJAYA: A primary school teacher who has aquaphobia has failed to obtain leave from the Federal Court to appeal a court decision which held that his dismissal for being absent for 1,535 days was valid.

A three-member bench comprising Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court judges Datuk Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang dismissed Yahaya Wahi’s application for leave to proceed with his appeal to the Federal Court.

Justice Abang Iskandar said Yahaya’s application for leave to appeal has failed to meet the threshold requirement of Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

“There is no novel point. No question of general public importance that needs to be further ventilated,” he said.

An applicant must obtain leave in order to proceed with the appeal to the Federal Court. He must also convince the Federal Court that the proposed appeal contains novel legal questions of public importance which are being raised for the first time and ought to be further ventilated by the court.

Yahaya, 44, was dismissed from the teaching service on Aug 9, 2019, and all his emoluments were stopped from Aug 6, 2019. The science and mathematics teacher had failed to report at a school in Gerik, Perak for years and only appeared for work on April 3, 2013.

On Dec 16, 2012, he was transferred to SK RPS Kemar, located in the interior of Gerik. However, he failed to report for duty and only reported for work on April 3, 2013. He did not teach at the school until May 16, 2017.

This was after he discovered that he could only get to the school by riding a boat across a lake. He has a fear of water due to a near-drowning incident during his childhood, further compounded by seeing his elder brother drown.

He received medical attention in a government hospital in Sungai Petani and was referred to its psychiatry department in 2015. He also informed his medical condition to the school principal when disciplinary action was initiated against him in 2019.

In his four years of absence, he also tried to discuss his case with authorities and requested another transfer, but it was not entertained.

He filed a judicial review application in the Taiping High Court seeking to quash his dismissal and be reinstated as a teacher at any other school which was reachable via a land route.

He named former Education Service Commission chairman Tan Sri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof, the Hulu Perak District education office, Perak Education Department, Education Ministry and the government as respondents.

On July 31, last year, the High Court allowed Yahaya’s judicial review and granted a certiorari order to set aside the respondents’ decision to dismiss him from service. However, the decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal which ruled that his termination from service was valid.

Lawyer Chan Kean Li appeared for Yahaya while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly@Arwi appeared for the respondents. – BK