Three BN members have gone to court to quash Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail’s decision to exempt Umno from deregistration.
Satarriah Abdul Karim and Zaidi Abdul Majid from Umno’s Lembah Pantai branch, and P Vellasamy of MIC’s Lembah Pantai branch filed the judicial review leave application on May 15.
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur is set to hear the bid on Thursday.
In the event that the civil court grants leave, a separate date to hear parties’ submissions on the merits of the judicial review will be set later.
On March 7, Saifuddin revealed he exempted Umno from a law that could see the party deregistered over its upcoming polls.
This was after Umno barred contests for the Umno presidency and deputy presidency.
The judicial review listed Saifuddin in his capacity as home minister, the federal government, the Registrar of Societies (ROS) and Umno as first, second, third and fourth respondents respectively.
According to the cause papers, the BN trio contended that Saifuddin’s decision - to exempt Umno from complying with Section 13(1)(c)(iv) of the Societies Act 1966 - is invalid for contravening Article 8(1) of the Federal Constitution.
Discrimination claim
They claimed the minister’s exemption had discriminated against Umno members’ right per the political party’s constitution to contest for the top two party posts.
The trio claimed they were denied the right to be heard before Saifuddin made the decision to allow the exemption per Section 70 of the Societies Act.
“Saifuddin, (who is the) home minister, did not explain how the exemption granted was fair and in accordance with reason and logic.
“On the contrary, until now, Saifuddin has not given a reasonable explanation,” they said.
Among the reliefs sought via the judicial review is an order of certiorari to quash the minister’s March 7 decision.
Law firm Rohaina & Co is representing the trio. - Mkini
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