THE Kota Kinabalu High Court has ruled unlawful last year’s appointment of private sector engineer Amarjit Singh as the Sabah Water Department director, said former chief minister Yong Teck Lee.

Yong, who had filed a suit against the appointment, said the court ruled that it contravened with Section 3 of Sabah Water Supply Enactment 2003.

Section 3 of the enactment spells out that only members of the public service are qualified for senior posts.

Yong and Tawau businessman Pang Thou Chung had challenged Amarjit’s appointment in March.

Amarjit, who was a private consultant for the department and now a state ruling Warisan party member, was appointed last year.

When contacted, Amarjit told The Malaysian Insight he was not aware if there was a hearing on the case today, adding that he was occupied with a department meeting.

On March 24, Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Peter Anthony said he was unworried over the suit as the appointment had been done in accordance to the law.

He said his ministry has checked with various institutions before appointing Amarjit and that includes consulting the state attorney-general and the Public Service Department on the matter.

Court of Appeal judge Ravinthran Paramaguru made the ruling this morning.

The ruling did not nullify Amarjit’s actions as the director.

Yong called on Amarjit to vacate the Sabah Water Department office and for the Warisan-led state government to respect the court decision.

“This is a clear and definite law contained in the state enactment that the government has no excuse to be ignorant of.

“Although the court had stopped short of quashing all the actions of the director from the time of his illegal appointment on August 10, 2018, the court declaration that the appointment is in contravention of the Water Supply Enactment 2003 is effective as of today October 9, 2019.

“Therefore, the only proper and legal thing for the purported director to do is to leave his office and refrain from giving instructions to any officers or staff at the Water Department.

“Any further actions by him or officers and staff acting under his instructions could potentially be breaking the law,” he said in a statement issued from Kota Kinabalu. – October 9, 2019.