SHAH ALAM: The Shah Alam High Court yesterday declared that the sacking of Abdul Halim Mansor as Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general by its General Council on March 3 is not valid.
Judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail made the decision in her chambers in the presence of lawyer D. Kalai who represented Abdul Halim (the plaintiff) and lawyer P. Mithran who acted for the defendant, MTUC president Mohd Khalid Atan, as the public officer of the congress.
Kalai told reporters afterwards that Hadhariah also held that the plaintiff was still the secretary-general of MTUC until the congress’ next polls, which is held trienially. With the decision, Gopal Krishnan Nadesan’s position as the secretary-general of the congress following Abdul Halim’s sacking had been nullified, he said.
The plaintiff had sought redress in court over the matter in April following a dispute on tenure of service, with the congress claiming it was for two years as per its articles of association but the plaintiff contending it was three years as it was an elected position. The court also ordered the defendant to pay costs of RM6,000.
“We (plaintiff) interpret the tenure as three years. The court on studying amendments made to MTUC’s constitution agreed it should be three years and that the two years stated in Article 10(5) of MTUC’s constitution is in error,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mithran, when approached by reporters, declined to comment and said the defendant had yet to decide on whether to appeal. Abdul Halim and Mohd Khalid were elected as office bearers of MTUC for the 2011-2013 term. — Bernama