The Court of Appeal has yet to give its written grounds of judgment in Lim Guan Eng's suit against Perkasa information chief Ruslan Kassim, New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd and Utusan Malaysia to facilitate the Penang chief minister's leave to appeal the decision in the country's highest court.

Lim's lawyer, Americk Singh, told Malaysiakini this when contacted today, after a case management was held before Federal Court registrar Jumirah Marjuki.

“There will be a further case management on Sept 4, pending the release of the grounds of the Court of Appeal's decision on the matter,” Americk said.

Lim's appeal is being focussed now as the COA decided six months ago to adopt the principle in the case of Derbyshire County Council vs The Times Newspapers Ltd & Others (1993), which stated that local authorities cannot institute libel action in their official capacity...