The Registrar of Societies (ROS) has appointed Umno-linked lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to represent it in DAP’s judicial review application before the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

The matter came up for case management today after Justice Zaleha Yusof had, on March 26, granted the DAP permission to initiate the judicial review application.

The application was initiated by the DAP in February to compel the ROS to recognise its new office-bearers following the re-election of  the central executive committee (CEC) on the instruction of ROS.

The DAP’s lawyer Gobind Singh Deo ( left ) said the party has been told to submit its documents by June 11.

“Following that, the High Court will fix the hearing dates.

“We also came to know today that Shafee has been appointed by the ROS to represent it."

He expects that the hearing dates will be set for sometime in June or July.

'ROS acted in bad faith'
 
In the application, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng states that ROS acted in bad faith and beyond its powers in arriving at its decision not to recognise the new CEC.
 
"Hence, the decision is not valid and should be declared null and void. The ROS has no power to prevent recognition of the CEC election on Sept 29 , as it did not issue a notice to that effect.
 
"The party and I were not given an opportunity to reply to the decision," Lim said in his affidavit in support of the application.

Shafee will have to argue the ROS case before Justice Zaleha, the same judge who has refused to set aside the RM5,000 fine imposed on him by the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board for misconduct.