Court to hear PN’s challenge against ROS deregistration and suspension on Dec 7

Tuesday 27 Oct 2026

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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): The High Court here has set Dec 7 to hear Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) judicial review challenging the Registrar of Societies’ (ROS) decision to deregister the party and suspend its activities.

The hearing date was set following a case management session before Justice Datuk Azizan Md Arshad and confirmed by PN’s counsel, Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali.

He said the court directed the respondents to file their affidavits in reply by Nov 9 while PN must file its response by Nov 16.

Both parties must file and exchange their written submissions by Nov 26, followed by reply submissions by Dec 3.

Azizan directed that all written submissions be limited to 30 pages.

The legal dispute follows the ROS’ decision to deregister PN on Oct 20 after determining that the party’s response to a show-cause letter was inadequate. The regulator had acted on a complaint lodged by component party Bersatu, which alleged that it had been excluded from a supreme council meeting on July 16.

The ROS issued a show-cause notice under Section 13(2) of the Societies Act 1966 on Sept 22, followed by a suspension notice under Section 13(2A) on Sept 23, giving PN 30 days to respond. On Oct 5, PN filed its judicial review application, seeking to quash both notices and have them declared null and void.

On Oct 22, Azizan granted a stay of the ROS’ deregistration decision.

The judge ruled that exceptional circumstances warranted the stay, citing PN’s political role and the potential implications for its rights as elected representatives and state governments.

The stay remains in effect pending the full hearing of PN’s substantive judicial review on Dec 7.

The ROS has since appealed to the Court of Appeal against Azizan’s decision to grant the stay.

Edited ByPresenna Nambiar

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