Izzat Muhtar & Hasra

On the court record

The firm's record illustrates the treatment of default judgments over mixed claims under Order 13 of the Rules of Court 2012 and the established grounds, including natural justice, on which the courts review Industrial Court decisions on wrongful dismissal.

Izzat Muhtar & Hasra appears in the corpus as counsel in civil-procedure and administrative litigation, argued in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) in both English and Bahasa Malaysia.

One matter, argued in Malay, concerned a judgment in default. Acting for the defendant, the firm appeared where the court dealt with a default judgment under Order 13 of the Rules of Court 2012 in respect of a mixed claim (tuntutan bercampur) comprising unliquidated damages, specific performance and an injunction, and considered the entry of interlocutory judgment with damages to be assessed, a situation that turns on how the rules treat a default where the relief sought is not simply a liquidated sum.

The firm's more substantial work concerns the judicial review of an Industrial Court award. In connected proceedings involving MMC Engineering Group Berhad, the firm acted for the applicant and, on appeal, appeared where an employee sought judicial review under Order 53 of the Rules of Court 2012 of an Industrial Court decision, contending that a dismissal was wrongful, unlawful and legally invalid and premature. The court examined the established grounds of review, namely illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety and proportionality, together with whether there was any conflict of interest or a direct nexus affecting the decision-maker, the operation of the company's disciplinary inquiry, and the principles of natural justice, including nemo judex in causa sua, in considering whether to grant an order of certiorari.

The firm's record is a litigation practice engaging both the procedural mechanics of default judgments over mixed claims and the substantive grounds on which the courts review Industrial Court decisions on wrongful dismissal, a field of direct significance to the employment relationship. The judicial-review work in particular reflects the enduring importance of the supervisory jurisdiction as the means by which an employee or employer dissatisfied with an Industrial Court award tests whether the tribunal acted within its powers and observed the requirements of natural justice, rather than simply re-arguing the merits, and it is on that distinction between review and appeal that much of the firm's advocacy turns.