KUALA LUMPUR JULY 9: The High Court today struck out a civil suit filed by four DAP members, which sought to declare null and void the results of the DAP central executive committee re-elections in September 2013.
Counsel for the defendants Gobind Singh Deo (left) and DAP acting chairman Tan Kok Wai (right)
Judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera who delivered the judgement here today, said the actions by the DAP members are an abuse of process, and agreed that the court shall have no jurisdiction over the disputes arising within the party.
“I agree with the submissions of learned counsel for the defendants that (the decision of the CEC, and the results of the re-elections) are decisions clearly caught by the provisions of Section 18 (c) of the Societies Act.
“Therefore, validity of such decisions cannot be challenged in court, as the courts, on the express and unambiguous words of Section 18 (c) do not have jurisdiction to entertain the same,” he said.
Section 18 (c) of the Act states that a decision of a political party, or any person authorised by it or by its constitution on any matter relating to the affairs of the party shall be final and conclusive. The provision provides that such a decision shall not be challenged, appealed against, reviewed, quashed or called in question in any court on any ground, and no court shall have jurisdiction to entertain or determine any suit, application, question or proceeding on any ground regarding the validity of such decision.
“It is obvious that the present action by the plaintiff is an abuse of process… For reasons discussed earlier, I am fully satisfied that the present action is obviously unsustainable and ought to be struck out with costs,” Vazeer said.
The civil suit was filed by members Tay Kok Beng, Tan Kim Seng, Law Theng Hooi and Wong Yu Liuh, who disputed the veracity of the list of delegates who voted during the re-elections on Sept 29, 2013. It named the 19 members of the CEC as defendants.
Among their complaints were that the same list of eligible delegates had been used in the 2012 CEC election as the 2013 re-election.
The September 2013 CEC re-elections had taken place when the December 2012 CEC polls were declared null and void by the Registrar of Societies (RoS) after irregularities were found. It was later clarified that the irregularities had been due to a computing error.
“The number of delegates eligible to vote in the CEC re-election in September 2013 have increased, if delegates from 120 branches who had not been eligible in the December 2012 elections had been taken into consideration,” they claimed.
A similar complaint lodged with the RoS on the CEC re-elections is still pending.
Met after the judgement, acting DAP chairman Tan Kok Wai told reporters that he was pleased with the decision of the court, but added that the RoS must end its harassment of the party.
“We have more than 200 branches whose registration has been ‘kept in view (KIV)’ for two years (because of the complaint pending),” he said.
Lawyer Gobind Singh Deo acted for the defendants.
– The Rocket
