The Court of Appeal has granted a stay of execution on yesterday's High Court decision which recognised Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as the rightful Perak menteri besar.
This will put on hold the decision of the High Court pending an appeal by Perak BN Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir.
This means that rival MB, Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, cannot dissolve the state assembly until the appeal has been heard. He has returned as the lawful MB for less than 20 hours.
Zambry filed his appeal this morning and the issue will be heard at a date to be set by the Court of Appeal.The Court of Appeal decision has once again plunged Perak back in limbo with both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat fighting one another to claim power in the state.
Court of Appeal judge Ramly Mohd Ali had today heard the stay application on his own, departing from the usual three-member panel.
Such a departure is acceptable and has been done previously for various grounds.
Zambry's lawyers argued that the stay was important to stop Nizar from trying seek the approval of the Perak sultan to dissolve the state assembly.
His lead counsel, Cecil Abraham, added that if the dissolution was granted, Zambry's appeal would be academic.
Meanwhile, attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, who was also in court today, supported the motion.
He argued that the suspension of state secretary and state legal advisor by Nizar late last night was illegal as these were federal appointments.
Court of Appeal decision made at 1pm
Nizar's lawyer, Sulaiman Abdullah, urged the court to fix an early date for appeal.
Counsel Cecil and Sunil Abraham represented Zambry, while Nizar was represented by Sulaiman, Ranjit Singh and Edmund Bon.
In addition to Gani, AG’s Chambers prosecution division chief Abdul Majid Hamzah was also in court.
BN and Umno lawyers, Hafarizam Harun and Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, are holding a watching brief.
Also in court were two PKR assemblypersons turned BN-friendly Independents - Mohd Osman Jailu (Changkat Jering) and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (Behrang). Their defections had made it possible for BN to take over the Perak government.
After the decision, which was delivered at about 1pm, Hafarizam urged Nizar to vacate his office to allow Zambry to move it.
Sulaiman meanwhile said he had to take instructions from Nizar on what to do next.
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