The fate of over 300 Certificate of Legal Practice candidates who had their grades annulled and regraded by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board will be known this Friday when the Kuala Lumpur High Court announces its decision.

Justice Arifin Zakaria said he would give his decision of the four-day hearing on Friday while a written judgment will be made available at a later date.

The legal suit against the Qualifying Board began last Friday when 16 students, represented by counsel Karpal Singh, requested justice Arifin to declare the annulment and the subsequent regrading of their papers, wrongful and a contravention of their rights.

Karpal had earlier told the court that the board did not have enough evidence to justify its annulment of the CLP examinations.

"Evidence is lacking here, and there is nothing to show that LPQB director Khalid Yusof was responsible to justify the nullification," he said.

According to Karpal, the board cannot hold Khalid responsible for the scandal as this has yet been proven by the police.

"Therefore, it is insufficient for the board to say that the decision to annul was made fairly and reasonably," Karpal said.

He added that annulment of the exams was flawed and had affected the livelihood of the people involved.

Not in bad faith

The board has held CLP examination director Khalid Yusof responsible for the irregularities in the results.

Khalid, who has been with the board since 1993, is currently on suspension and under police investigation but has yet to be charged.

Last November, the five-member board came under fire following its decision to annul the examination results of both the July CLP exam and October supplementary exam after it discovered that examination questions have been leaked to candidates.

In addition to the leakage, there were also revelations that the examination marks have been tampered with, forcing the board to re-grade the papers.

The LPQB's legal counsel Zaki Tun Azmi argued that the court has to accept the decision made by the board.

"There is nothing to show in the board's affidavit to show that it acted in bad faith. The affidavit clearly shows that it has done everything in accordance with its powers," Zaki said.

Disgruntled CLP students have filed 16 law suits to challenge the board's decision. However, justice Arifin ruled last week that his decision on this case will apply on the other 15 suits.