DBKL ruled wrong to pull down Bar Council banners

Malaysiakini

As published in Malaysiakini on 29 Apr 2014.

The Court of Appeal today upheld the High Court decision that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) trespassed and acted illegally in pulling down banners put up by the Bar Council.

The banners were put up at the Bar Council's Jalan Lebuh Pasar premises on Human Rights Day seven years ago.

 

The three-member panel led by Justice Abdul Wahab Patail, also upheld the RM12,000 general damages and the RM320 special damages to the Bar Council for the banners that were taken down.

 

Besides Justice Abdul Wahab, the others were Justice Azahar Mohamed and Justice Hamid Sultan Abu Backer. They did not make any order as to costs.

Lawyers Ranjit Singh, Razlan Hadri Zulkifli (left) and Jaime Ong appeared for the Bar Council, while B Thangaraj appeared for DBKL.

The decision by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur last year was seen as a victory for human rights.

 

Human Rights Day is celebrated around the world on Dec 10 every year. The Bar Council had filed its action against DBKL in 2009.

 

The three banners pulled down by DBKL stated ‘Stop the Patronage, Stop the Rot', ‘As I Believe? Freedom of Expression through Art, Music, Culture and Conscience...' and ‘Rakyat Hakim Negara' (The people are nation's judges).

 

DBKL’s enforcement men came about noon seven years ago and ordered the banners be taken down on grounds they were advertisements within the meaning of a by-law, and hence a licence was required to put them up.

 

The Bar Council was told that since it did not have a licence for the banners, City Hall could remove them.

 

Not advertisements

However, Judicial Commissioner SM Komathy Suppiah, who ruled in favour of the Bar Council, held that the banners did not fall under the realm of advertisements.

 

"By-laws do not apply to non-commercial advertisements," Komathy said in awarding costs to the Bar Council.

“It would certainly not promote good order and governance within the jurisdiction of the City Hall and stifle the rights of ordinary citizens to put up banners that are not commercial in nature."

Komathy pointed out that following City Hall’s stand, other banners wishing people during festivals such as Deepavali, or a simple happy birthday message put up at the house, or the memorable and gigantic 'Buat Kerja' (Do your job) banner put up during Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad's time, would therefore also require licences.

 

"If the draftsman had intended to include private, non-commercial advertisements in the definition, it is reasonable to expect that this would have been easily stated, clearly and expressly. On any footing, that has not been done," she had ruled.

 

The Human Rights day celebration also saw several arrests of lawyers who took part in the march. They too won their suits against the police and the government.