SHAH ALAM: The High Court here has dismissed applications for leave for judicial review by a group of Universiti Malaya (UM) academic and administrative staff as well as five teachers to challenge the government's Covid-19 vaccination programme.
High Court judge Dr Shahnaz Sulaiman said the court disagreed with the applicants' contention that mandatory vaccination had violated their rights under the Federal Constitution.
She said it was not illegal or irrational for the government to make it a must for public servants, as frontliners, to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and they are bound by rules and regulations.
Both groups had said as public servants, they must be given the freedom to choose to undergo the programme or otherwise.
Shahnaz said the applicants did not submit on how their rights under Article 9 of the constitution are violated, but the court still took things into consideration for the sake being thorough.
Article 9 guarantees the freedom of movement of citizens, to move freely or stay in any part of the country except where any law is passed relating to the security of the country, public order and public health, among others.
Shahnaz said the vaccination was to curb the spread of Covid-19, which was a global pandemic. "In this case, the Covid-19 pandemic was certainly and evidently a global pandemic which required authorities to take measures to ensure public health.
"Hence, this court cannot agree with the applicants' contention that the impugned decisions resulted in the contravention of Article 9."
For the aforementioned reasons, this court is satisfied that there is no illegality or irrationality such that this court should exercise its power to squash the impugned decision.
"This court, therefore, dismisses this application for judicial review with no order as to costs, bearing in mind this is of public interest," she said.
Senior federal counsels Shamsul Bolhassan and Liew Horng Bin represented the government.
The groups filed applications for leave for judicial review in October 2021 for an order to quash the government's directive to implement the programme based on circulars sent to them.
The 19 UM applicants named the UM registrar, the Public Service Department and its then director-general Tan Sri Mohd Khairul Adib Abd Rahman, the Health Ministry and the government as respondents.
The five teachers named the education and health ministers, their ministries, Khairul and the government as respondents.
All 24 applicants contended that the government's vaccination programme against one's consent was unlawful, irrational and unconstitutional and breaches their rights as enshrined in the constitution.
They had asked for an order to be issued to UM or the Education Ministry to put the circular on hold pending the results of the judicial review applications. They also want the government to produce the outcome of clinical trials on all vaccines administered and its side effects.