PUTRAJAYA, Jan 7 — The Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals filed by five school teachers and 19 Universiti Malaya (UM) staff who challenged the government’s circular requiring them to undergo compulsory Covid-19 vaccination.
A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, and Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Harun found no merit in the appeals brought by the two groups.
Delivering its unanimous decision, Justice Kamal said the appellants’ contention that the circular was tainted by irrationality, unreasonableness, or disproportionality does not hold water.
He said the measures undertaken by the government were intended to curb the spread of Covid-19 and to safeguard public health.
The Covid-19 pandemic was a global health crisis that required coordinated efforts by authorities, including vaccination, to control transmission.
Justice Kamal noted that the Health Ministry recorded over 2,000 cases a day in 2021 and reported over 19,000 deaths.
The court awarded the government and the UM registrar RM15,000 each in costs.
On October 27, 2021, the five teachers from five different schools in Terengganu, Kelantan, Melaka, and Selangor jointly filed their judicial review application against six respondents: the Education Minister, the Education Director-General, the Public Service Department's (PSD) Director-General, the Health Minister, the Health Director-General, and the Malaysian government.
On October 29, 19 UM staff members separately filed similar judicial review applications against the UM registrar, the PSD Director-General, the Health Minister, and the Malaysian government as respondents.
Among the orders sought by them were to quash a decision to implement Covid-19 vaccination for public servants under the Federal government, as per the 2021 circular, and to declare that they and other public servants have the freedom to choose whether to undergo Covid-19 vaccination.
On December 14, 2023, the High Court dismissed their judicial review application, prompting them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
At the Court of Appeal today, senior Federal counsel Liew Horng Bin and Federal counsel Siti Norashikin Hassanor appeared for the government. Lawyers Muhammad Amin Anuar, Adrian Yeow, Nurul Zawawi Abd Rahim, and Nurazatul Farhana Shahrudin represented the appellants.
Lawyer Raja Eileen Soraya Raja Aman and Melanie Lim represented the UM registrar.
