KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar and Bar Council have proposed a possible settlement of a legal suit filed by a lawyer challenging the legality of a notice for the Malaysian Bar’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM).

Lead counsel Tommy Thomas told High Court judge Justice John Louis O’Hara that it was hoped the matter would be resolved before the impending Malaysian Bar annual general meeting on March 16.

“The entire dispute is on the EGM,” Thomas told Justice O’Hara.

In the test case, lawyer Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz claimed a notice for the Malaysian Bar EGM issued on May 4 last year was invalid and against the Legal Profession Act.

Mohd Khairul’s co-counsel Shaha-rudin Ali told Justice O’Hara that the Malaysian Bar and Bar Council had proposed the possible settlement yesterday and both parties had agreed to meet a discuss an amicable settlement of the dispute.

Justice O’Hara set Feb 4 for case management.

Mohd Khairul’s lead counsel Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman said the case involved important constitutional issues that required the agreement of both parties.

Shaharudin stated his client challenged the Bar Council’s notice calling for the EGM as being void because it was not issued in the national language as required by the Federal Constitution and the National Lan-guage Act.

Meanwhile, Mohd Khairul said he was not involved in the demonstration held at the Jalan Duta court complex carpark yesterday where about 100 people clad in red attire shouted “Clean the Bar Council”.

The court had in June last year struck out the claim against Bar Council chairman Lim Chee Wee and its secretary Tony Woon Yeow Thong after the plaintiff decided not to pursue the case against the two.

In his original claim, Mohd Khairul named the Malaysian Bar, Bar Council, Lim and Woon as defendants.

In his claim, Mohd Khairul said Woon had uploaded a circular on the Malaysian Bar website on May 4 last year, stating that an EGM would be held at a hotel here on May 11.

He said the defendants failed, refused or neglected the statutory rights of the Bar’s 14,189 members by not mailing the notice and motion to them.

Mohd Khairul said Woon’s action of doing so on the website was an incomplete presentation and not according to the law.

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