One month has been given by the High Court to the government and a group of 35 individuals, which includes retired judges and dependants, to come to a resolution regarding a lawsuit regarding pensions.
This directive was issued during the case management online before Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh on Wednesday.
Lawyer, Christopher Leong, representing the plaintiffs, stated that the court gave time for both parties to discuss a possible settlement.
The parties in the suit are required to provide an update to the court on the settlement during a case management meeting scheduled for March 5.
The plaintiffs initiated the lawsuit on Jan 24, 2022.
The group includes well-known retired judges such as former Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, former Chief Judges of Malaya Tan Sri Siti Norma Yaakob and Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Nor, and former Court of Appeal judge Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who also served as the Parliament speaker.
They named the government, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, and the Public Services director-general as the first to fourth defendants in the suit.
The group is seeking a declaration that the government’s failure to fix an appropriate increment of more than 2% in their pension and other benefits has violated certain articles of the Federal Constitution.
The plaintiffs are also seeking an order for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to fix a higher increment of more than 2% annually on the pension and other benefits given to them, effective July 1, 2015.
In addition, they stated that the pensions of retired judges and dependents of deceased judges were automatically adjusted based on the current salaries of the serving judges as required under certain articles of the Federal Constitution.
