It comes a day after the Malaysian Bar and opposition leaders protested the decision to extend the chief justice’s tenure.
PETALING JAYA: Raus Sharif whose tenure as the chief justice ended yesterday would be officially sworn in tonight to remain as the country’s top judge, according to a press release by Putrajaya.
It comes a day after the Malaysian Bar announced it would challenge the decision to extend his tenure as well as his appointment and that of Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as additional judges of the Federal Court.
Raus’ tenure is for three years from today while Zulkefli will remain in his current administrative post for two years from Sept 28. Raus retired yesterday while Zulkefli on Sept 27 after reaching the mandatory retirement age.
The oath-taking ceremony will take place at 10pm tonight at Istana Negara.
The appointment of Raus and Zulkefli has been mired in controversy following protest from the legal fraternity, who said no Federal Court judge can remain in his administrative post after reaching 66 years and six months of age.
Former chief justice Arifin Zakaria said he had proposed Raus and Zulkefli’s names to the Agong on March 30, his last day of retirement.
An additional judge of the Federal court is to take his oath of office before the chief justice or in the absence of the chief justice, before the next most senior judge as provided under Article 124 (4) of the Federal Constitution.
Since the government has allowed Raus to continue his position as chief justice, the king has to also hand over the instrument of appointment before Raus takes his oath of office.
Yesterday, an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) convened by the Malaysian Bar said it would file a suit to challenge the “unconstitutional” appointments of Raus and Zulkefli.
The EGM also decided to boycott all events involving the duo.
Yesterday, opposition leaders submitted a memorandum to the king, seeking his intervention to stop the re-appointments of Raus and Zulkefli, which they also claimed were unconstitutional.