KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Former Federal Court Judge Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram is well-known for giving on-the-spot oral judgments and landmark rulings relating to constitutional, public, contract, and industrial law.
Sri Ram, 79, has the distinction of being the first lawyer in private practice to be appointed straight to the Court of Appeal when it was set up in 1994 and he never served as a judicial commissioner or a High Court judge.
He was a Court of Appeal judge for 15 years before being elevated to the Federal Court in 2009 and subsequently retired in 2010.
Here are some of his rulings that made headlines.
On July 12, 2007, Sri Ram, who was the Court of Appeal judge made a landmark decision on a 17-year-old boy’s case for murdering his tuition teacher’s daughter after ruling that his detention at the pleasure of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was unconstitutional.
The case caused an uproar in 2007 when Sri Ram, ruled that Section 92 (2) of the Child Act was unconstitutional as it gave the power to the executive to sentence a child convicted of murder.
He said that it went against the doctrine of separation of powers as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Sri Ram had held that the courts must have the exclusive authority to find a person guilty of murder and then impose a penalty, and it could not merely convict a person but leave the responsibility of sentencing to the king, the rulers or governors who acted on the advice of the executive.
On April 17, 2009, Sri Ram also made a landmark decision in allowing former national athletics coach C. Ramanathan’s application to review the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision dated July 11, 2008.
He ruled that the Court of Appeal has the jurisdiction to review an appeal, which has already been determined, to avoid and correct an injustice to the party.
Sri Ram set aside the previous Court of Appeal’s order which upheld the Sessions Court’s decision in convicting Ramanathan and sentencing him to four years jail for molesting two underaged female athletes in 1992.
On January 19, 2010, Sri Ram also made a ruling in a legal dispute between the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) and 354 Felda Kemahang settlers in Tanah Merah, Kelantan over payments for palm oil fruits.
In the case, the Federal Court comprising Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi, Federal Court judge Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and Sri Ram, denied Felda leave to appeal against the Kota Baharu High Court’s decision ordering the agency to pay RM7.8 million in damages and interest, to the settlers.
After retiring in 2010, Sri Ram continued to practice as a lawyer.
Sri Ram was representing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in his appeal on the sodomy case at the Federal Court, his defamation suit against Khairy Jamaluddin and the case relating to the prime minister’s pardon board.
He also acted as counsel on R. Kengadharan’s appeal to challenge the imposition of departure levy on Malaysians travelling overseas at the Court of Appeal and Dr Syed Iskandar Syed Jaafar Al Mahdzar’s appeal to challenge the dissolution of Parliament.
Besides that, Sri Ram also led the defence team in clerk Sam Ke Ting’s appeal against her conviction and jail sentence for reckless driving which caused the death of eight teenagers who were riding on modified bicycles commonly known as basikal lajak at the Court of Appeal.
Sri Ram was also appointed as a lead prosecutor by the Attorney-General’s Chambers in high-profile cases involving former prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption case and audit report case involving Najib and former 1MDB chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy.
He was also the leading prosecutor for Najib’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s corruption trials, involving a solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak, and money laundering.
Sri Ram passed away today at the age of 79 at a private hospital here. Sri Ram was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a private hospital here last week for a lung infection.
— Bernama
