Lawyer Ambiga Sreenevasan today told a seven-member Federal Court bench that the issue of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak agreeing to advise the appointment and tenure extension of two top judges is justiciable.

Citing the landmark decisions in the Semenyih Jaya and Indira Gandhi cases, Ambiga stipulated that when the decision of the executive is inconsistent with the Federal Constitution, the court is duty bound to intervene.

Pointing to the press statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office on July 7, 2017, she said that allowing the extension of Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal president Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin's tenures by way of appointing them as additional judges would undermine the judiciary.

"We say after the judgment in (the cases of) Semenyih Jaya and Indira Gandhi that the prime minister’s advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is not immune to scrutiny...