Court gives ROS two weeks to decide on party registration

The High Court Tuesday ordered the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to make a decision within two weeks on the application by former Tourism Minister Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir to register his political party, Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (IKATAN).

Judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof made the decision after allowing the judicial review sought by Abdul Kadir and ordered the ROS to pay him RM3,000 in costs.

In her judgment, Zaleha ruled that the ROS was bound by Section 7(1) of the Societies Act 1966 regarding registration of a party and the ROS should consider whether to grant or refuse within two weeks as the application had been pending for over a year.

"The registrar can decide on the applications although there is no time frame imposed under the same act on the registration of a party, and it has been shown that two previous applications, by the Malaysian Indian United Party and Makkal Sakti, have been registered within two months," said Zaleha.

Abdul Kadir filed the leave application on Feb 15 this year.

In his affidavit supporting the judicial review application, Abdul Kadir claimed that he submitted the party's registration form to the ROS on June 6 last year.

He claimed that the ROS had acted against legal procedures for failing to respond to his application.

Earlier, K. Ragunath, who represented Abdul Kadir, said in his submission that the ROS, in justifying the delay in deciding on the application, had taken irrelevant factors into account.

Meanwhile, Senior Federal Counsel Muzila Mohamed Arsad, who represented the ROS, said in her submission that there was no prescribed time under the Societies Act 1966 for the ROS to make its decision on the registration of a party.

Speaking to the reporters outside the court, Abdul Kadir said he was happy with the court ruling as he had complied with the regulations with regard to the registration of a new political party.