Retired senators, MPs not entitled to pension adjustment, rules court

Retired senators, MPs not entitled to pension adjustment, rules court

PUTRAJAYA: Retired senators and MPs have no right to an increment in their pensions when salaries are reviewed, the Federal Court ruled today in a unanimous verdict.

In allowing the government’s appeal, a three-member bench chaired by Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Hashim said the right to a review was merely a contingent or future right and had yet to accrue.

Delivering broad grounds of judgment, Hasnah said appointed senators and elected Dewan Rakyat representatives are not “public servants” within the meaning of Article 132 of the Federal Constitution.

She said that, in contrast, the pension rights of civil servants were protected by Article 147 so that any new pension scheme cannot be less favourable than the law in force as of that date.

“The court must refer to those articles without attempting to modify and qualify, particularly when there is no ambiguity,” she said in setting aside a Court of Appeal ruling made last year in favour of 26 former senators.

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Also on the panel hearing the appeal were Justices Zabariah Yusof and Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil.

The bench did not order the payment of costs as the appeal was on a matter of public interest.

The former senators, led by Idris Buang, had filed an originating summons for a declaration that they were entitled to a recomputation of revised pensions which came into effect on Jan 1, 2015.

They named the chief administrator of Parliament and the government as respondents in the suit filed on Aug 15, 2019.

Their application was originally dismissed by the High Court in 2020 but allowed by the Court of Appeal.

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Prior to Jan 1, 2014, paragraph 20 of the First Schedule to the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) Act 1980 stated that the senators and MPs were entitled to pension adjustments whenever a salary review took place.

Following the amendment, any pension granted to MPs would be adjusted upwards by 2% annually without a salary review taking place.

On Jan 1, 2015, the monthly allowance which senators are entitled to receive was increased from RM4,112.79 to RM11,000 while Dewan Rakyat members would be paid RM16,000 per month, up from RM6,508.59.

The respondents, who were no longer serving as MPs as of that date, claimed that their pensions ought to be adjusted in line with the increment to the allowances of serving senators and MPs.

Senior federal counsel Al-Saifi Hashim, Rahazlan Affandi Abdul Rahim, Liew Horng Bin, Nurul Husni Abdul Rahman, Syahirah Ashahri, Tarmizi Ahmad, and federal counsel Jackie Mary Fernandes appeared for the government.

Lawyers Krishna Dallumah, Steven Thiru, Shankar Ram, Indran Kumaraguru, Yong Yoong Hui, Nasuha Badrul Din and Chong Jen Hui represented the respondents.