Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: Two resolutions passed at the MIC special gathering on Sunday, including a declaration that Datuk Seri G Palanivel is no longer the party president, is ineffective and legally not binding, lawyer J Chandra said.

The counsel, who is representing Palanivel in judicial review proceedings against the Registrar of Societies (RoS), said his client was still the legally elected party president as he had not violated the MIC constitution.

“Leaders who are opposing Palanivel are deliberately misinterpreting the party constitution to suit their needs,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

He said Article 91 of the party constitution only prevented any member from going to court and challenge the party’s central working committee (CWC) on his rights, obligations, duties and privileges.

“Palanivel cannot be said to have lost his membership for taking the RoS to court,” he added.

The lawyer said although the High Court dismissed Palanivel’s judicial review application, the legal battle had not come to a finality because an appeal had been lodged to the Court of Appeal.

“Palanivel’s legal status is intact and the meeting had no right to announce that it would abide by the RoS to hold a re-election,” he added.

Chandra said this in response to a faction led by suspended MIC deputy president, Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam, which passed resolutions that Palanivel was no longer a member of the ethnic Indian component party of Barisan Nasional (BN).

The meeting also approved another resolution that the party would abide by the RoS directive to conduct re-elections and uphold the court’s finding that Palanivel and four others had filed the suit against the RoS in their personal capacities.

Subramaniam at the gathering in the Putra World Trade Centre said that Article 91 of the constitution was enforced because Palanivel and the four went to court without the CWC’s consent.

The special conference saw 2,758 branch chairmen, 95 division chairmen, 45 division coordinators and 6,000 observers and ordinary members in attendance.

Chandra said the meeting was not legally constituted as it was not an extraordinary general assembly that fulfilled the requirements in the party constitution.

“We do not know who came to vote the resolutions. So the outcome is ineffective and legally not binding,” he added.

Chandra said Dr Subramaniam had been suspended last week for 12 months by the president and he had no legal standing. — The Malaysian Insider

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 23, 2015.

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