Lawyers for Perak speaker V Sivakumar today filed a suit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court to set aside a restraining order stopping him from conducting "unlawful assembly meetings".

He is also asking for a declaration that the state legal advisor Ahmad Kamal Shahid had acted on behalf of him (the speaker) without any authorisation on two occasions.

The legal actions were filed by representatives of his lawyer Tommy Thomas at 3.40pm.

The declaration to set aside the restraining order was in regards to the order obtained by Barisan Nasional Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir and his six exco members to stop Sivakumar from convening any unlawful meetings purporting to be state assemblies.

The order was issued by Ipoh High Court judicial commissioner Ridwan Ibrahim on March 3 in chambers.

At the same hearing, Ridwan had ruled that Sivakumar could not be represented by his private lawyers and can only be represented by the state legal advisor since the speaker was a state officer.

Following this, Ridwan on March 5 again barred Sivakumar's lawyers of choice when hearing the case brought by the three independent Perak state representatives seeking to overrule the speaker's decision to declare their seats vacant.

In the writ of summons, Sivakumar said Ahmad Kamal has never sought his advice or instruction before or after the March 3 proceedings.

Furthermore, Sivakumar being represented by Ahmad Kamal was a conflict of interest as the latter was now an employee of Zambry, the ‘de facto' Perak menteri besar.

As such, Sivakumar said that he could not rule out the possibility that Ahmad Kamal could have "conspired with Zambry's counsel to injure the interest of the plaintiff".

The writ also stated that Ahmad Kamal failed to submit that "no injunction can be granted against the plaintiff by virtue of his status as the head of the state assembly".

Appeals filed as well

Earlier in the day, Sivakumar's lawyers also filed notices of appeal against the court’s decision to disallow him from appointing his own counsel to represent him in two cases.

The notices were filed simultaneously at the Ipoh High Court and the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya by Messrs Mah-Kamariyah & Philip Koh.

V Sivakumar"The Speaker had been denied the right to his choice of counsel and I think it is a matter serious enough for the Court of Appeal to deliberate on," lawyer Leong Cheok Keng was quoted as saying by Bernama.

Perak DAP chief Ngeh Koo Ham, commenting the decision to file the appeal, said while he respected Ridwan's ruling, he nevertheless thought the decision to to bar lawyers like Tommy Thomas and Philip Koh from representing Sivakumar was wrong.

Ngeh said Sivakumar should not be construed as a public servant as his salary, like all elected representatives, was derived from the state consolidated fund, which comes under state legislative assembly which also pays the salary of the rulers.

"Hence, with due respect, this does not come under the purview of the Government Procedures Act 1956 and Sivakumar should have been allowed to appoint his own lawyers.

"For this reason, we felt there is a strong ground for us to appeal and that was why Sivakumar had filed the application today.

Yesterday, Judicial Commissioner Ridwan ruled that the Speaker could only be represented by the state legal adviser in the suits brought by 10 members of the state assembly including Perak Menteri Besar Zambry.

Zambry and the six state executive councillors - Ramly Zahari, Saarani Mohamad, Hamidah Osman, Zainol Fadzi Paharuddin, Mohd Zahir Abdul Khalid and Dr Mah Hang Soon - are seeking a declaration that the Speaker's decision in suspending and preventing them from attending the assembly sittings for 18 months (for Zambry) and 12 months (for the rest) null and void.

There independent lawmakers - Jamaluddin Md Radzi, Mohd Osman Jailu and Hee Yit Foong - want the court to declare that their Behrang, Changkat Jering and Jelapang seats not vacant and that they are still legitimate people's representatives.

Fails to show up at police hq

Meanwhile, the speaker was supposed come to the Perak police headquarters this morning to have his statement recorded following a report against him for suspending the menteri besar and the executive councillors from attending state assembly sittings.

However, Sivakumar did not turn up.

Ipoh Barat Member of Parliament M Kulasegaran and lawyer Anthony Augustin, who were present, said that the Speaker was now on leave outside of Perak.

The Speaker had also been summoned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the suspension.

Perak has been enveloped into turmoil since the Barisan Nasional seized control of the state government with the defection of several Pakatan Rakyat state representatives.

The scenario paved the way for numerous lawsuits to be filed by both sides.