PUTRAJAYA (July 02) : The Federal Court is permitting the Malaysian government to challenge a Court of Appeal (COA) decision over pension payments for Senators and Members of Parliament (MPs) who served before 2015.

A three-member panel led by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Sebli on Tuesday said that there were arguments regarding the case which needed further ventilation before the court.

The other two members of the panel were Federal Court judges Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil and Datuk Hanipah Farikullah.

The government, along with the chief administrator of Parliament and the Public Service Department (PSD) director-general are appealing the COA decision early this year which had overturned a 2020 High Court ruling. The COA had decided that the former lawmakers are entitled to the salary increment to be reflected in their pension.

Retired senators Datuk Seri Kamarudin Ambok and Datuk Idris Buang, along with a group of former senators filed the originating summons asking for their pensions to be recomputed and revised in accordance with the increase of the salary as listed in the Members of Parliament (Remuneration)(Amendment) Act 2015. The senators had retired before the Act came into effect.

Amongst others, the COA ruled that the 2015 Amendment Act did have retrospective effect due to the powers of Parliament to legislate retrospectively. Therefore, when there was an increase in the salaries of current members of the Senate from RM4,112.79 to RM11,000, there was a corresponding increase in the pension entitlement of the appellants as of Jan 1, 2015.

Following the Federal Court's decision on Tuesday, parties will now fix another date to hear the full merits of the case.

Senior Federal Counsels (SFC) Rahazlan Affandi Abdul Rahim and Liew Horng Bin appeared for the appellants while the respondents were represented by Krishna Dallumah.