A district court has concluded that the north-eastern municipal authority are guilty of holding an event earlier this year at Hougang Central without permit from the National Environment Agency (NEA).
The dispute began when the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), run by the Worker’s Party, applied for a permit from NEA to hold a fair over the Chinese New Year period. After several back and forths between the two parties, NEA refused to process the permit due to incomplete application documents. Nonetheless, AHPETC carried on with the fair which ran from Jan. 9 to Jan. 30 this year.
The case ended up in court when AHPETC did not comply to NEA’s warnings that without a permit, the fair has to stop running. The town council decided to challenge the claim in court when they received summons on Jan. 27.
The Town Council defended their decision, insisting that the fair was a small one, which does not require permits. Furthermore, they contested that AHPETC can hold events in common areas that they manage and run.
Channel NewsAsia reports that the district judge has ruled that the prosecution (NEA) did not need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that AHPETC deliberately refused to obtain a permit. The judge sided with the NEA that the Town Councils Act did not give the AHPETC power to disregard requirements of prevailing regulations of the land.
The town council’s vice chairman expressed his disappointment with the verdict and will follow through with the next course of action.
Mitigation and sentencing will take place on Dec. 24.
Photo: bloomsberries via Flickr
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