KUALA LUMPUR - Perikatan Nasional (PN) has applied to the High Court for leave to begin committal proceedings against the Registrar of Societies Malaysia (RoS) over its decision to cancel the coalition's registration while a related court application was still pending.
Court documents filed on Tuesday show the application was made ex parte, or without notice to the other party.
Five leaders from PN component parties are named as applicants, led by secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.
The others are Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) secretary-general Wong Chia Zhen, Malaysian Indian People's Party secretary-general N. Sathes Kumar, Parti Wawasan Negara secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah and Parti Pejuang Tanahair secretary-general Datuk Sazmi Miah.
RoS director-general Datuk Muhammad Zulfiqar Ahmad and Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail are named as respondents.
The applicants claimed the Oct 20 cancellation interfered with the administration of justice, as it came two days before the High Court was due to hear their stay application on Oct 22.
They said the stay application was meant, among other things, to stop RoS from cancelling PN's registration pending the outcome of their judicial review application.
"RoS was aware of the proceedings and had received a letter dated Oct 14 requesting that any action to cancel PN's registration be postponed until the court had decided on the application.
"However, the order cancelling PN's registration was issued on Oct 20, a day after the respondents filed their written submissions," the court documents stated.
The applicants also claimed no reasons were given to explain why the cancellation had to be carried out before the court heard the stay application.
They further alleged that the respondents used the cancellation to argue that the judicial review and stay applications had become academic.
According to the applicants, the first respondent's actions amounted to contempt of court because they were taken while the related proceedings were still pending.
"The respondents were aware of the proceedings and the issues before the court, yet proceeded in a manner alleged to interfere with and pre-empt the administration of justice.
"It was as though they had taken away an issue that had been set for the court to decide and sought to render any order that might be issued ineffective," the application stated.
On Oct 22, the High Court allowed PN's application to stay enforcement of the notice cancelling the coalition's registration. Judge Datuk Azizan Md Arshad ruled that PN would suffer greater prejudice if the stay was not granted.
The court also stayed enforcement of an earlier notice dated Sept 23, which suspended all PN activities pending the outcome of the judicial review application.
RoS had issued the suspension order on Sept 24 under Subsection 13(2A) of the Societies Act 1966.
Five leaders from PN component parties subsequently filed for judicial review to challenge the suspension.
PN claimed the notice directly affected its component parties' ability to contest in the Melaka state election. It said failure to suspend or revoke the notice before nomination day could affect its ability to contest under the PN name and logo.
However, on Oct 20, RoS announced that PN's registration had been cancelled after finding that the coalition's explanations and representations did not refute the grounds for cancellation stated in the earlier notice.
RoS said the decision was made after reviewing all documents and feedback received from PN on Oct 12.
The Election Commission has set Oct 31 as nomination day for the Melaka state election, Nov 10 for early voting and Nov 14 for polling day.