‘Palanivel no longer in MIC’
(The Star) – Datuk Seri G. Palanivel no longer holds any position nor is he an MIC member, and a special party assembly has confirmed this, said deputy president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.
Announcing that re-elections for all party posts would be held in July, he said Palanivel’s removal as president was a result of his own actions.
Speaking to reporters after a special assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday, Dr Subramaniam said Article 91 of the party constitution stated that no party matters could be taken to court without the consent of the central working committee (CWC) and those who failed to do so would cease to be members.
“Despite this, he went to court without prior consultation of the CWC. Therefore, we have to agree that his membership has ceased,” he said.
Dr Subramaniam said this was one of the two resolutions adopted by the assembly, which was attended by 2,700 MIC branch chairmen and 95 division chiefs.
The second resolution was to abide by the directions of the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to conduct re-elections and uphold the findings by the court that Palanivel and four others had filed their judicial review against the RoS decision in their individual capacities and not on behalf of the party.
The move comes a day after Palanivel put up his own show of strength at the same venue.
Dr Subramaniam said nominations for the party polls would be held from July 10-12 and balloting would be held the following week.
“Only members who were active in 2012 can take part in the elections,” he said.
Asked if he would return to the negotiation table with Palanivel, he said he had tried his best to resolve the issue amicably but Palanivel was always absent during planned meetings.
“Right now, we do not want to waste our time and energy on unnecessary matters. We want to focus on the re-elections,” he said.
Earlier, vice-president Datuk G. Saravanan told reporters that the faction supporting Dr Subramaniam was considering filing a contempt of court charge against Palanivel.
“The court had ordered the party to abide by RoS and its order was that no one in the party, including Palanivel, was in a position to appoint party posts until all matters were resolved.
“There was a letter issued to G. Kumar Aaman by RoS that he could not be appointed as a secretary-general until all the contentious issues were completely cleared,” he said.
The RoS notified the MIC on Dec 5 last year that the 2013 polls for the vice-president and its CWC seats and some divisional elections were null and void due to irregularities and ordered new polls.
On Feb 13, the interim CWC comprising members elected in 2009 agreed to abide by the RoS decision to conduct a re-election.
Ten days later, then MIC strategic director A.K. Ramalingam filed a judicial review application against RoS to quash its directive to hold new elections by July this year.
On March 2, Palanivel, his two vice-presidents – Datuk S. Sothinathan and Datuk S. Balakrishnan – and a public officer filed another judicial review application, naming the RoS and the Home Ministry as respondents.
On June 15, the court dismissed Palanivel’s appeal.
High Court judge Justice Asmabi Mohamad ruled that there was no reason for the court to interfere with the RoS decision as it was reasonable and rational and in line with the Societies Act 1966.
