KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22): Perikatan Nasional gets to contest the Nov 14 Melaka election under its own banner after the High Court here on Thursday stayed its deregistration by the Registrar of Societies.
The regulator had decided to deregister the coalition on Tuesday after finding that its response to a show-cause letter was inadequate.
“A stay on the deregistration is granted until the substantive matter is dealt with in the judicial review proper,” judge Datuk Azizan Arshad said on Thursday after lawyers from the government and PN presented their arguments.
The ruling also cancels PN's earlier suspension, which the ROS imposed on the bloc pending the reply to the show-cause letter.
The judge held that exceptional circumstances warranted a stay on the deregistration, including PN’s political role and the implications for its rights as elected representatives or state governments.
“There would be no prejudice if the stay was granted, as PN could continue to be monitored for any political activity that contravenes the law.”
The ROS is taking action on PN after component party Bersatu lodged a complaint that it was not invited to a July 16 supreme council meeting. The regulator then issued the show-cause letter in late September, giving PN 30 days to reply. PN was also suspended until it replied to the show-cause letter.
Early in October, PN applied to the court to quash both actions.
Thursday's hearing was originally scheduled to hear arguments about quashing the suspension, but PN changed its request to stay the deregistration.
Senior federal counsel Nurhafizza Azizan argued that PN should file a fresh judicial review application against the deregistratio as current application deals with the suspension order issued in September.
In the judicial review application, PN is seeking to quash notices issued under Sections 13(2) and 13(2A) of the Societies Act 1966.
Section 13(2) requires PN to explain its actions within 30 days or be deregistered. The Section 13(2A) notice informs PN that it must suspend its activities until it has responded to the matter.
PN’s lawyer, Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun, argued that the current application is not academic as one of the reliefs sought is to restrain the ROS from deregistering the party pending the disposal of the judicial review.
He said the ROS had deregistered PN before the end of the 30-day period stipulated in the show-cause letter.
“In their haste to halt these proceedings, they breached their own timeline of 30 days stipulated in the notice. The deregistration should take place after the 30 days from the date of notice. This is a statutory requirement,” he said.
On Oct 5, PN filed a judicial review application against the ROS, seeking, among others, an order to quash the Sept 23 notice suspending the coalition’s activities and the Sept 22 show-cause notice requiring PN to explain why it should not be deregistered. The show-cause letter was issued under Section 13(2) of the Societies Act, and the suspension notice is under Section 13(2A).
PN sought a declaration that both notices were null and void and of no effect.
No date is yet set for the hearing of the judicial review.
The court wrangle comes as Bersatu's dominance in PN has waned this year amid tensions with PAS over the direction of the coalition.
PAS said in June it would end political cooperation with Bersatu even though the party is still in PN.