KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today allowed the application of eight military veterans to commence judicial review proceedings to challenge the Home Minister’s delay in making a decision on their appeal to register Parti Kemakmuran Negara as a political party.
Lawyer Lim Wei Jiet, who represented all the applicants when contacted, said the decision was made by Justice Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid after the Attorney-General’s Chambers did not object to the application.
“The court has set July 27 for case management,“ said Lim.
The eight individuals are Brig Gen (R) Datuk Abdullah Mohamed; Commander (R) Yasin Hamzah; Captain (R) Ab Manan Mansor; Abdull Rahim Hashim; Major (R) Kaha Othman; Sazali Ramli, Alias Abd Wahab and Lt Col (R) Jalil Ithnin filed the application on July 7, naming the Home Minister and the Registrar of Societies (RoS) as the first and second respondents.
They applied for a mandamus order for the minister to make a decision under Section 18 of the Societies Act 1966 on the applicants’ appeal against the RoS decision on March 16 which rejected the party’s registration as a political party, within seven days from the date of the order.
The veterans who are the party’s sponsors, filed the application on the grounds that the delay of the two respondents in reaching a decision on the party’s registration appeal was unreasonable and violated the applicants’ right to form associations and speak under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
All the applicants also claimed that the delay of the two respondents had violated the right to vote as enshrined in Article 119 of the Federal Constitution. - Bernama