IS DATO' SERI G PALANIVEL AND FOUR OTHERS STILL MEMBERS OF M.I.C.?

Surely, not a difficult question to answer.

I am convinced that based on Article 91 of the MIC constitution, Dato' Seri G.Palanivel and four others who instituted a judicial review application against the Registrar of Societies (ROS) have ceased to be members of the party.

Article 91 of MIC’s constitution reads: "Every member shall be bound by the decision of the Central Working Committee in matters relating to his rights, obligations, duties and privileges as a member of the Congress.

"If the member 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 Central Working Committee or in violation of any decision or directive of the Central Working Committee 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.”

In the judgement made recently, the learned judge in her decision cited a letter dated 5 February 2015 from the ‘President’ of MIC agreeing to hold fresh elections for all positions subsequent to his meeting with the Prime Minister.  Additionally, on 6 February 2015, the ‘President’, on behalf of MIC again submitted a proposal or proceedings to ROS to hold fresh elections to resolve the matter.

The learned judge was fair in her decision to conclude that the ‘President’ cannot claim to be adversely affected when he had agreed on having fresh elections for all positions.

The ‘President’ had also agreed to the 2009 CWC to conduct the fresh elections.

It is therefore the right decision by ROS not to appoint the 2013 CWC to conduct the fresh elections in view of the fact that it was tainted with illegality.  This decision is further supported by the ‘President’ himself who submitted the names of the 2009 CWC to conduct the fresh elections.

Article 91 is very specific in its meaning and in the very first line it expressly says that ‘every member shall be bound by the decision of the Central Working Committee (CWC) in matters relating to his rights, obligations, duties and privileges as a member of the Congress.’  It goes on to say that if a member resorts to court proceedings, he will cease to be a member of the Congress.

In her judgement, the learned judge also mentions that the applicants had not produced any resolution from the CWC to file the case in court.

Again it contravenes Article 91 and by virtue of it, the applicants cease to be members of the Congress.

It is my hope that this matter is not dragged further based on the detailed and justifiable decision of the learned judge.  Any attempt to further delay the resolution of this matter will be at the expense of the members of the party and progress of the Indian community.

The plaintiffs had taken this matter to court and they should now respect the decision of the court. I believe a fresh election for all positions is the best resolution and it should be constituted immediately.