SHAH ALAM (Dec 14): The Shah Alam High Court on Thursday dismissed a challenge brought by Universiti Malaya (UM) academic and administrative staff, as well as five teachers, over the government’s compulsion for public servants to be vaccinated under the Covid-19 vaccination programme.

Judge Dr Shahnaz Sulaiman ruled in her broad grounds that the requirement by the government for public servants to be vaccinated against Covid-19 was not illegal or irrational, and did not violate their rights under the Federal Constitution.

“The requirement for vaccination was to curb the global epidemic, which required the authorities to impose the vaccination,” she said.

While the plaintiffs had argued that it violated their rights under Article 5 (liberty of a person), Article 8 (equality) and Article 9 (freedom of movement), Shahnaz ruled that as public servants, they were bound by the regulations set by the government, as the court found their liberty as not absolute.

The violation of Article 8 did not arise, the judge said, as public servants (those who were vaccinated) ought to be treated equally with other public servants (not vaccinated).

She also ruled that there was also no violation of their rights to freedom of movement, as Covid-19 was considered a global epidemic, and many frontliners were asked to be vaccinated.

“For these reasons, this court is satisfied that there was no irrationality and illegality in the government’s decision to impose the requirement, and this judicial review application is dismissed with no order as to costs,” she said.

The plaintiffs were challenging the requirement for vaccination, as the UM registrar had required them to, while failing to do so could affect their attendance.

However, Shahnaz noted that the registrar acted within its powers to issue the regulation, and that the plaintiffs themselves did not challenge the attendance regulation.

Senior federal counsels Shamsul Bolhassan and Liew Horng Bin appeared for the government.

The court earlier on May last year granted leave (permission) to the plaintiffs to challenge the government’s Covid 19 vaccination programme, which may affect their attendance to work should they not want to be vaccinated.

The 19 UM academic staff and five teachers had filed for permission to initiate a judicial review in October 2021 for an order to quash the government’s directive to implement the programme based on the circulars sent to them.

They named the UM registrar, the Public Service Department and its then director general Tan Sri Mohd Khairul Adib Abd Rahman, the Ministry of Health and Putrajaya as respondents.

The five teachers from different parts of the country had also filed a similar application. They named the education minister, health minister, education and health ministries, Khairul and federal government as respondents.

In their applications and affidavits, the groups said that as public servants, they must be given the freedom to choose whether to participate or not in the vaccination programme.

They said the government’s move to compel them to take vaccines went against their basic rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

They wanted an order to be issued to UM’s administrator or the Ministry of Education to put the circulars on hold, pending the outcome of the judicial review application.

All 24 plaintiffs had taken the position that the government’s decision to administer vaccines without their consent was unlawful, irrational and unconstitutional.