Court rules Solomon is still MTUC sec-gen

High Court holds there is no vacancy for the position and bad blood between the secretary-general and president Abdul Halim Mansor led to the attempt for a re-election.

J Solomon, who is the National Union of Bank Employees general secretary, was a surprise winner, edging out incumbent secretary-general Gopal Kishnam. (Facebook pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has declared that Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general J Solomon can remain in that position despite attempts to hold a fresh election.

Justice Hue Siew Kheng also ruled today that there was also no necessity to have another election to fill in the positions of seven vice-presidents from the private sector.

Lawyer Alex De Silva, who represented Solomon, said Hue held that the MTUC constitution allowed any vacancies that arose to be filled without an election being held.

“In the case of Solomon, the court held there was no vacancy.”

De Silva said the judge found there was evidence of bad blood between the secretary-general and president Abdul Halim Mansor that led to attempts for a re-election.

De Silva said the move by the general council to hold elections was done in bad faith.

The court ordered the council to pay RM70,000 in costs to Solomon.

Lawyer Sandosh Anandan, who represented the MTUC general council, said he would wait for instructions on whether to file an appeal.

Last August, Solomon filed an action against the council for holding polls for the secretary-general and vice-president posts.

In his application, he sought a declaration that the council’s decision to hold the election again for both posts is null and void.

On July 16, the council decided to conduct fresh elections as two unqualified delegates had taken part in the election.

Solomon claimed the decision to hold a re-election for the post of secretary-general and the seven vice-president posts allotted to private sector unions, was not a collective decision as expressed by Halim.

He said the only collective decision made was to revoke the eligibility of Kamarul Baharin Mansor, a vice-president, and Mohamed Dauzkaply Nor Ghazali, a member of the council, but who contested and lost the contest for the secretary-general’s post in a three-cornered fight in November 2016.

He said Kamarul and Dauzkaply immediately ceased to be members or representatives of MTUC.

He said Rule 10 (8) of the MTUC constitution stated that in the event of a vacancy, that position shall be filled by the council.

However, Solomon claimed the president and his supporters in the council pushed ahead with the decision to hold a re-election.

He said the re-election for the post of secretary-general did not arise as there was no vacancy created by Dauzkaply’s disqualification as he had lost.

Solomon, who is the National Union of Bank Employees general secretary, was a surprise winner, edging out incumbent secretary-general Gopal Kishnam.

Solomon polled 189 votes, Gopal had 169 votes while Dauzkaply secured 165 votes.

Halim and Solomon were said to have formed an alliance then to defeat the incumbents. -FMT