The Federal Court will determine whether civil servants hauled before a disciplinary board should be provided with all details pertaining to the complaint filed against them.
The apex court will also decide if the civil servant can request for the details if they are not included in the show cause letter.
This legal question will be argued later following the Federal Court granting leave to appeal by former Lance Corporal Mohd Faizal Guna Abdullah against a Court of Appeal decision five months ago.
Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, who led a five-man bench, allowed the leave application as the questions posed were of public interest and were raised for the first time.
The issue had a bearing on all civil servants in the event anyone of them is issued with a show cause letter for alleged indiscipline and misconduct.
The Court of Appeal had on March this year allowed the government's appeal that Faizal's dismissal from the police force for supplying drugs to a detainee at the Dungun district police headquarters was legal.
He committed the offence between Sept 18, 2002 and Oct 5, 2002. Faizal, now 50, was issued a show cause in 2003 and he replied within the stipulated time. The board in a letter dated Jan 24, 2006 dismissed him from the force without giving specific details. Faizal filed a judicial review at the High Court in Kuala Terengganu, among others seeking reinstatement and backdated salary.
In May 2011, the High Court allowed the judicial review application and granted the remedy sought. At the Federal Court yesterday lawyer G. Subramaniam Nair, who appeared for Faizal, submitted that the charge against his client was not specific.
He said generally junior civil servants did not know their rights like asking details from the board when charges were vague.
"The board has the advantage of seeking legal advice from government agencies but aggrieved civil servants only obtained remedy after they were punished," he said.
The lawyer said the board did not indicate in the show cause letter that the affected civil servant could request for better and further particulars if the charges were vague.
"This amounted to the civil servant being denied a fair hearing," Subramaniam said.
Senior Federal Counsel Suzana Atan, however, argued that the burden fell on the civil servant to ask for details if the charge was not specific before the board made a decision.
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