Maniam Nair & Co.

On the court record

Maniam Nair & Co. is a Malaysian firm whose reported matters before the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) are strongly concentrated in administrative and public law, and in particular the judicial review of disciplinary dismissals from the public service. A distinctive line of work concerns members of the police force. The firm has challenged disciplinary action and dismissals said to be premature, unlawful and in excess of jurisdiction, including a case where the action was founded exclusively on a matter whose validity was still sub judice in a separate judicial review, and cases turning on the misapplication of Regulation 33(2) of the disciplinary regulations to effect a summary dismissal and on whether a show-cause letter issued after a discharge not amounting to an acquittal contravened Regulation 28.

The firm has repeatedly appeared for applicants seeking certiorari to quash decisions of disciplinary boards under the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations, raising whether the board acted under the wrong legislation, whether it had to state reasons supporting a prima facie finding before issuing a show-cause letter, whether rebuttal evidence had to be produced, and whether pursuing both criminal proceedings and disciplinary action amounted to double jeopardy. It has also appeared in a criminal matter defending an accused in a drug prosecution under section 39B, where the presumption under section 37(d) required the accused to rebut it on the balance of probabilities to earn an acquittal at the close of the defence case.

The reported profile is that of a public-law practice with a marked specialism in service-discipline judicial review, engaged with the fairness, jurisdiction and procedural regularity of the boards that dismiss public officers, and with the constitutional and administrative safeguards that govern the discipline of the police and the wider public service, complemented by selective criminal-defence work.