Ex-Kedah council officer guilty of misconduct over title misuse, rules court

Ex-Kedah council officer guilty of misconduct over title misuse, rules court

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal has upheld the dismissal of a former assistant enforcement officer from a Kedah district council over multiple misconduct charges, including the unauthorised use of a state title.

A three-member bench, chaired by Justice S Nantha Balan, said the High Court judge did not fall into any error in dismissing a judicial review filed by Fakrurzy Aroff against the disciplinary board of the Padang Terap district council.

“Having looked at the appeal record and considered the submissions, we find no merit in the allegation of procedural impropriety or breach of the rules of natural justice,” said Nantha Balan.

The judge said the appellant had responded in writing to the charges of misconduct made against him and also appeared in person before the disciplinary committee prior to a decision being made.

Nantha Balan also noted that the appellant had not asked the council for discovery of documents and did not state that he wanted to call witnesses.

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“In law, the right to be heard does not mean a right to an oral hearing of an adversarial nature as this is an internal disciplinary proceeding within the council,” he said, adding that Fakrurzy fell woefully short of the evidence required to exculpate himself of the charges.

Nantha Balan said the panel was satisfied that the High Court had correctly examined the case for the process that was employed and was right not to review the substance of the decision as that was within the province of the council’s disciplinary body.

Highlighting the unauthorised use of the title Pingat Perkhidmatan Setia, the judge said the punishment of dismissal imposed by the disciplinary committee decision was fair, reasonable and proportionate given that it touched on the appellant’s integrity.

“We find no reason to interfere with the High Court’s decision to dismiss the judicial review,” he said in his broad grounds.

Also on the panel hearing the appeal were Justices Collin Lawrence Sequerah and Ahmad Kamal Shahid.

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The bench also ordered Fakrurzy, 38, to pay the council RM10,000 in costs.

The facts of the case revealed that Fakrurzy, a contract worker, was on probation when he was dismissed from employment on Aug 22, 2021.

The first charge is related to his conduct in not issuing the uniform and accessories to a council staff member and the second for making a false claim amounting to RM32.05.

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He was also charged with the use of a title although it was not stated in his service book.

A fourth charge was related to Fakrurzy’s application for a bank loan, in which he described himself as a “permanent” member of the council’s staff although he was only a contract employee.

The misconduct took place between Jan 27 and March 31, 2021.

Fakrurzy responded to notices to show cause. However, the council decided to commence disciplinary action and the charges framed against him were made known on July 18, 2021.

He was asked to make a written representation to exculpate himself. Dissatisfied with the reply, the council decided to terminate his employment.

Fakrurzy then filed a judicial review at the High Court in Alor Setar, which was dismissed on Dec 14, 2022.

Lawyers Karim Lim, M Murgan and Clifford Ong represented the council while Siau Suen Min and Nurul Husna Halim appeared for Fakrurzy.