| The Ipoh High Court today restrained Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar from convening any unlawful meetings purporting to be state assemblies.
Judicial commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim made the ruling in his chambers following an application by Barisan Nasional Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir and his six exco members.
The application was filed this morning and heard in chambers at 2.30pm. Ridwan made his decision under Section 44 of Specific Relief Act.
 Zambry and the exco members were represented by Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, Mohd Hafarizam Harun, Abu Bakar As Sidek, Cheng Mai, Badrulhishah Abdul Wahab, Faizul Hilmy Ahmad Zamri and Zaireen Zainal.
Sivakumar was represented by the state's deputy Zulqarnain Hassan following a court ruling this morning that the speaker could not be represented by private lawyers.
Talking to reporters after the hearing-in-chambers, Firoz said the judge had not elaborated his decision apart from allowing Zambry's application to prohibit Sivakumar from convening any meetings purported to be assembly sittings.
He however said that this ruling was the "first and complete step that has been taken to restore constitution government in Perak". He described the current situation as "almost chaos".
He said that their submissions was on the fact that the speaker does not have the power to call any assembly, even an emergency sitting such as the one held earlier today.
The High Court order has no time limit and penalties would be decided later if and when the speaker holds the next meeting deemed illegal.
To be served on speaker tomorrow
Firoz also said that the Specific Relief Act allowed the court to grant an order to a public officer, in this case, the speaker.
He said that they also quoted the federal constitution in matters relating to immunity enjoyed by the speaker.
"However in this case the speaker does not enjoy any immunity because there is no proceeding in the assembly," he said.
"The so-called assembly under the tree will still remain as an assembly under the tree," added Mohd Hafarizam.
 Firoz (photo) also noted that under Section 36(1) of the state constitution, only the sultan can summon for a meeting.
When asked on what penalty Sivakumar would face if he disobeyed the court order, Firoz said he didn't want to speculate. He said there was no specific penalty in the Act.
"We will see what the speaker does next," added Mohd Hafarizam.
The lawyers also said that they will get the draft order later today and serve in on Sivakumar tomorrow.
The hearing in chambers today started with a letter submitted by Sivakumar to Ridwan's secretary stating that he had not authorised the state legal advisor to act on his behalf.
"I have not received any communications from the legal advisor's office nor have I given any instructions to him," Sivakumar said in the statement which was delivered by Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran.
On this, Mohd Hafarizam said that they were not aware on the contents of the letter. He also said that the judge need not make a ruling on the letter as "it was not before him". A case of conflict?  Kulasegaran had earlier said that it was a conflict of interest that the legal advisor who acted for Zambry in a case last week represented Sivakumar in a case filed by Zambry today.
"How can he act for both plaintiff and defendant? It's a clear case of conflict," said Kulasegaran.
When asked to comment on this, the deputy state legal advisor Zulqarnain said that he was only "looking after the interest of the government".
"Our duty as legal advisor is to advise the government," he said before walking away. However, he did not indicate which government he was representing.
Ridwan will next hear an application by three BN-friendly independents - Behrang assemblyperson Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi, Changkat Jering assemblyperson Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Jelapang assemblyperson Hee Yit Foong - against Sivakumar for wrongly declaring their seats vacant using their undated resignation letters. This application will be heard on Thursday.
On that day, the judge will also be fixing another date to hear Zambry's and the exco members' application against their suspension. The matter was adjourned this morning after the court ruled that the speaker could not be represented by private lawyers.Malaysiakini | 
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