Retired civil servants seek court order for govt to adjust pension

A retired civil servant, on behalf of 56 other retirees, has turned to the civil court to compel the government to adjust pension calculation, following a landmark court ruling nullifying the amended pension law.

Aminah Ahmad’s lawyers filed a judicial review leave application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court earlier today for a mandamus order for the government and Public Service Department (PSD) director-general to immediately make adjustments to the pension entitlement amount.

According to the application filed by law firm Shukor Baljit & Partners, Aminah seeks an adjustment in line with the formula within Sections 3 and 6 of the Pension Adjustment Act 1980, prior to its amendment under Sections 3 and 7 of the Pensions Adjustment (Amendment) Act 2013 (PAA).

On Jan 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal declared the amended Sections 3 and 7, which came into effect from Jan 1, 2013, null and void as they contravened Article 147 of the Federal Constitution.

Aminah, who retired as a civil servant with the Foreign Ministry, sued the government and the PSD director-general in her personal capacity and on behalf of 56 retired members of the public service, claiming the amendments to the PAA in 2013 resulted in a situation “less favourable” to them compared with the preceding retirement adjustment scheme under the Pensions Adjustment Act 1980.

Under the previous scheme, a retiree’s pension is revised based on the prevailing salary of incumbent civil servants in that grade. However, the 2013 amendment was introduced based on a flat rate of two percent annual increment.

Aminah initially lost her case at the High Court in 2020. She then appealed to the Court of Appeal, which decided in her favour. In June last year, the Federal Court upheld the ruling in favour of the retired civil servants.

However, in early October last year, Aminah issued a legal letter for the government to immediately adjust the pension scheme, due to the alleged failure of the government to abide by the appellate and Federal Court verdicts.

Today’s judicial review was on the heels of the government purportedly failing to abide by Aminah’s legal letter to adjust the pension.

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