KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Perikatan Nasional (PN) will challenge the Registrar of Societies’ (RoS) decision to cancel the coalition’s registration, including by appealing to the home minister, its secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said today.
He said the legal challenge would begin with an application during the Kuala Lumpur High Court hearing of PN’s application for a stay on Thursday.
Takiyuddin said Section 18 of the Societies Act 1966 (Act 832) allows any local society, office-bearer, member or aggrieved party to appeal against a decision by the RoS to the Home Minister.
The appeal must be filed within 30 days of the RoS decision, he said, adding that Section 8 of the same Act empowers the Home Minister to confirm, reject or amend the Registrar’s decision, with the minister’s decision being final.
“PN will challenge the validity of the Cancellation Order and seek a stay of its implementation and all its effects pending the court’s determination.
“PN also urges the Attorney General to explain this action in light of the position taken by the Attorney General’s Chambers in court during the hearing of PN’s stay application this Thursday,” he told a press conference at Parliament today.
Takiyuddin said PN would also take action against parties it believed had shown contempt for the court process.
“PN will also take action against all parties that have shown contempt for and disregarded the court process,” he said.
(RoS) cancelled the registration of PN after finding that the explanation submitted by the coalition failed to refute the grounds for deregistration stated in an earlier notice.
RoS said it made the decision after examining all the documents and explanations submitted by PN on October 12.
According to the department, the reasons given by PN also did not provide strong justification for maintaining the party’s registration.