IPOH, March 24 - Judicial Commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim, the most junior judge to hear a constitutional case, has recused himself from hearing one case involving the Perak state speaker and is expected to do the same for a second case.
Lawyers said he recused himself from the Perak executive council's suit challenging the 12 to 18-month suspensions by Speaker V Sivakumar for "unconstitutionally" accepting their appointments.
It is also understood that Ridwan will recuse himself from the suit by Hee Yit Foong, Osman Jailu and Jamaluddin Radzi, who are now independents supporting Barisan Nasional (BN), challenging Sivakumar's claim that they resigned from their seats, once the file has been returned to Ipoh.
It comes on the back of yesterday's Federal Court decision to return the suit filed by three former Pakatan Rakyat (PR) assemblymen against the speaker to the Ipoh High Court.
This decision comes as the legal team representing Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Zambry Adb Kadir and his six exco members are applying for an identical referral to the Federal Court.
A member of the team, Faizul Hilmy Ahmad Zamri said that after meeting representatives from both legal teams in his chambers, Ridwan recused himself as he knew the apex court would reverse his decision as it did yesterday.
Ridwan had initially allowed the BN lawyer's application to refer the suit to the Federal Court despite Sivakumar's legal team that the state constitution had been used wrongly in the application.
The case has been transferred to Justice Datuk Wan Arfah Wan Ibrahim, who has set April 2 to hear an application to strike out the case made by Sivakumar.
Ridwan's role in hearing the cases had earlier raised eyebrows due to his junior status in the judiciary.
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