Barisan Nasional's R Ganesan has purportedly disqualified himself from holding the post of Perak speaker because he continues to remain as a practising lawyer, alleged his Pakatan Rakyat rivals.

This contravenes Article 36A (5) of the Perak constitution which stipulates that a resignation from the professional post should be tendered within three months.

NONE Perak Pakatan Rakyat leaders, headed by ousted Pakatan mentri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, raised this point at the DAP state headquarters in Ipoh this afternoon.

"Ganesan is not the legitimate speaker of the Perak state legislative assembly. Even for arguments' sake if he had been legitimately elected, he is now disqualified by virtue of the Perak constitution as Ganesan continues in his profession as an advocate and solicitor," said the former MB.

After seizing the speaker‘s chair illegally during the infamous May 7 state assembly sitting, Nizar said Ganesan should have informed the Bar Council in a statuary declaration that he has ceased practising and to cancel his practising certificate, which is provided under the Legal Profession Act 1976.

Previously, Pakatan speaker V Sivakumar's lawyer Chan Kok Keong had written to the Malaysian Bar Council seeking clarification on the status of Ganesan as a lawyer.

The council in a letter dated Aug 12 had confirmed that Ganesan is still actively practising as a lawyer holding a valid practising certificate under the Legal Profession Act 1976.

The two-page letter from the council was made available to all press members.

Charge him with CBT

r ganesan 130509 "It has been more than three months since the purported election of Ganesan as speaker and by continuing in his legal profession, he is now disqualified as speaker even if we accept BN's assertion that he was properly elected," Nizar reasoned.

"Therefore, we hope that BN will respect the rule of law and recognise that the only legitimate speaker for the Perak legislative assembly is Sivakumar," he added.

Asked what if Ganesan refused to quit, DAP state chairperson Ngeh Koo Kam said: "We can either charge him for criminal breach of trust or get an injunction order to prevent him from holding office."

Ngeh also stated that Pakatan will also get a court injunction against state secretary Abdul Rahman Hashim to prevent him from interfering in the state assembly sitting fixed for Sept 2.

"As a civil servant Hashim cannot interfere in the affairs of the state Assembly," warned Ngeh.

Meanwhile, when contacted Ganesan claimed that he had already written a letter dated Aug 4 to the Bar Council informing them that he will cease practising effective Aug 6.

"I received the acknowledgement letter from the council dated Aug 20 and anyway the status of the position of the speaker can only be decided by the state assembly (and not by Pakatan)," he added.