KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak's legal challenge against the government to allow him to service his constituency is no longer rational because he is currently not a parliamentarian, the High Court heard.
Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan said this was due to the dissolution of 14th Parliament as announced by caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently.
"More importantly, the proclamation of the dissolution of Parliament has been gazetted. Since Parliament has been dissolved, it renders the application academic."
Shamsul said this in his submission to dismiss Najib's judicial review application against the government to allow him to service his constituency in Pekan and attend Parliamentary sittings.
The former prime minister named the government, home minister, and Prisons Department commissioner general as the first, second, and third respondents, respectively.
Shamsul said the allegations and complaints, which formed the basis of Najib's judicial review, can no longer be sustained; and the pleaded reliefs against the respondents have no practical consequences.
"Circumstances have changed as Parliament is dissolved. The practical question now is why do you need to attend Parliament? Why do you need to see your aide to do parliamentarian work?
"The Attorney-General's Chambers prays for this application to be dismissed as being frivolous and vexatious," he added.
However, Najib's counsel Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah argued that their application warranted the court's attention because such an issue could occur again in the future.
"We have yet to know whether he (Najib) is still a prospective candidate for the Pekan member of parliament.
"It is not unlikely for my client to sue the Prisons Department because he was deprived of attending Parliament during that period... so this is a live issue," he said.
Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid fixed Oct 27 for decision.
Najib in his application is seeking an order to quash the decision of the third respondent not to allow the applicant access to his officers for the purposes of parliamentary duties.
He is also seeking to dismiss the third respondent's decision not to allow him to attend Parliament on the scheduled dates.
Najib, 69, is serving his 12-year jail sentence at the Kajang Prison.
He was found guilty of all seven charges relating to misappropriation of RM42 million of SRC International funds.
Former Sessions Court judge jailed, fined for corruption