Kuala Lumpur, March 28 – The 2009 CWC which met today afternoon in MIC Headquarters made two important decisions, announced MIC Deputy President Dato Seri Dr S.Subramaniam, (pic) who chaired the meeting.
The first decision is to file an application in Kuala Lumpur High Court to be the “Intervener” in the current legal tussle between the 4 MIC leaders including party President Dato Seri G.Palanivel and the Registrar of Societies (ROS).
The second decision is to declare that the as per the directives of ROS the President does not have powers to suspend any members and consequently the suspension letters issued to the five people by Palanivel is of no effect and invalid. The five suspended members include former MIC Youth leader Datuk T.Mohan and Kepong Division chairman Datuk S.Seri Vel Paari.
“Two of the members suspended are members of MIC CWC and were merely carrying out their duties in their respective capacities” pointed out Subramaniam.
“Palanivel and some leaders of MIC have filed an action in court against ROS without first referring to CWC and their decision is not endorsed by the party. Therefore the CWC is unaware of the court case and we only came to know about it through newspapers. Therefore we have decided to file an application in court be the “Interveners” in the case to explain the situation to the court” Dr Subramaniam told reporters after the CWC meeting held today.
Former Youth leader Senator Datuk S.A.Vigneswaran has already filed an application to be an “Intervener” and the court has accepted his application. Now, the 2009 CWC will become the second “Intervener” in the on-going legal tussle between MIC and ROS.
2009 CWC’s application to be allowed as ‘Interveners” is expected to be filed before 2nd of April 2015, the next hearing date scheduled for the case.
Subramaniam also clarified the decision taken by CWC today on the suspension of 5 members by party President Palanivel.
“As of today, the ROS decision stands and the 2009 CWC is the only CWC validly constituted. The court case filed by Palanivel and others is still pending in court. In the meanwhile, it is clear that the President does not have powers to suspend anyone. Therefore, the meeting today also endorsed that the suspension letters issued to five members are invalid and are of no effect. They will continue to serve MIC in their respective capacities” declared Subramaniam, who is also the Health Minister.
Legal status of Palanivel and others who filed cases in court
Answering a question posed by a journalist “whether letters would be send to Palanivel and others who have filed cases in court”, Subramaniam said “we are not going to send any letters on that matter. The law will take its own course as far as the MIC Constitution is concerned”.
Section 91 of MIC Constitution provides :
‘Every member shall be bound by the decision of the CWC in matters relating to rights, obligations, duties and privileges as a member of the Congress. If he resorts to court proceedings in respect of his rights, obligations, duties and privileges or on behalf of any other member or in respect of the rendering or meaning of the provisions of this Constitution without first referring to the CWC or in violation of any decision or directives of the CWC he shall ipso facto cease to be a member of the Congress and shall not be entitled to exercise any of the rights of a member ‘
Some leaders have given an interpretation to this clause that since Palanivel and others have resorted to courts on a party matter without first referring it to CWC, they lose their membership in the party by virtue of section 91 of the MIC Constitution.
However, MIC sources said that the CWC meeting today refrained from making any decision on the matter.
