KOTA BARU: The Kota Baru Municipal Council (MPKB) needs to review its tyre clamping rule which has been in force for the last 20 years.
Lawyer Hisyam Fauzi said Order 17 in the MPKB Road Transport Order 2000 was ultra-vires section 72(7) of the Road Transport Act 1987.
Hisyam, who headed the team of lawyers representing their 33-year-old plaintiff, said the local government should instead take the claim to court.
He said the act of tyre clamping was not valid for cars that had summon arrears.
"In the context of car parking, the main law is the Road Transport Act 1987, and the MPKB Road Transport Order 2000 is subject to the Road Transport Act.
"Order 17 of the MPKB Road Transport Order does not have any authorisation to make by-laws relating to roads and the Road Transport Act stipulates that written permission must be obtained from the minister and the law must be published in a gazette or government gazette, but that did not happen.
"The act of tyre clamping for cars with summon arrears is invalid, and must only be compounded, where the compound is only an offence notice and not a punishment. If the compound notice is issued and the tyre is clamped, it is as though (the owner) is found guilty and punished and this is not right," he said at a press conference here today.
Earlier today, the Court of Appeal ruled that the MPKB's tyre clamping law was invalid as it goes against the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333).
This ruling means that the MPKB can no longer clamp vehicles placed in parking spaces but only issue compound notices.
The decision was made following a case involving a private sector clerk whose car tyres were clamped in July 2019 for having summon arrears.
"In this case, our client had between 11 and 12 compound arrears previously and because our client had forgotten to pay for parking, the client's tyres were clamped and she had to pay RM110 to release the clamp and as a compound.
"(The MPKB) should have issued a compound notice first to prove that the person had committed an offence and given the chance to pay the compound, and the person must only be brought to court if the person fails to pay the compound.
"This is the first case that we have handled on tyre clamping and we are not charging the client because we want to help the public, seeing that we have received many complaints before this. We hope the local government can review the law," he added.