Don’t dodge the summonses

What say you on the issue below?

DO not think you can ignore summonses sent to you by the local councils, at least not those from the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ).

Summonses sent out by the council are all issued in the name of the public prosecutor, so they will not be affected by the ruling in the GSM Mini Market case in Temerloh, councillor Derek Fernandez said.

The Temerloh High Court had ruled that the local council did not have the right to prosecute mini-market owner Subramaniam Gopal, who did not get his business licence renewed by the Temerloh Municipal Council after defying its orders to move to the new market built by the council.

Pay up, please: The DBKL is still studying the implications of the Temerloh case but local authorities in Selangor had taken steps to avoid the issue years ago.

Judicial Commissioner Akhtar Tahir ruled that Section 120 of the Local Government Act, which empowered local councils to prosecute, contravened Article 145 (3) of the Federal Constitution which gave the absolute right to do so to the Attorney-General.

However, in the case of Petaling Jaya, things had been set right as early as 1997 following the verdict on the case between Repco Holdings Bhd and the Securities Commission, Fernandez said at a press conference yesterday at the MBPJ headquarters.

In that case, the Court of Appeal decided that the latter did not have the power to prosecute in its name, because it would infringe the Federal Constitution which had vested the exclusive prosecution power in the Attorney-General as Public Prosecutor (PP).

“Realising the ramifications, the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council had done the necessary rectifications and all summonses were then issued in the name of the PP.

“Council legal officers were also authorised by the deputy public prosecutor (DPP) under the Criminal Procedure Code Sec 337(B) to conduct the cases in court,” he said.

“Ignoring the summonses issued in the name of the PP and thus failing to turn up in court will lead to the issuance of a Warrant of Arrest,” he said.

MBPJ prosecution officer Mohd Yusof Che Aziz explained that the council would refer an offence to the DPP one month after the offender failed to settle the fine.

Offenders are normally given 14 days to pay the fine.

“With the DPP’s consent, and after checking all relevant evidence, the council would then prepare the summonses in the PP’s name,” he said.

MPAJ president Datuk Mohammad Yacob said the council issued compound notices to offenders on behalf of its president, but the council had also been authorised by the public prosecutor to issue summonses.

“So that is why it is important to pay the compound fine that you get from the council,” he said.

Meanwhile, legal officers at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall are seeking clarifications on the technicalities and repercussions resulting from the Temerloh case.