NEA takes AHPETC to court over unlicensed fair
SINGAPORE — The Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) has once again fallen foul of rules governing trade fairs. NEA yesterday (Jan 28) served court summons to the AHPETC over an unlicensed trade fair it has been operating since Jan 9 at Hougang Central Mall.
SINGAPORE — The Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) has once again fallen foul of rules governing trade fairs. NEA has served court summons to the AHPETC over an unlicensed trade fair it has been operating since Jan 9 at Hougang Central Mall.
Four stall holders were also slapped with court orders on Jan 28 for hawking without a licence.
AHPETC had been running its trade fair in violation of Section 35 of the Environmental Public Health Act (EPHA), which states that all temporary fairs must obtain a licence from NEA’s Director-General. This is to protect the welfare of reseidents and public hygiene, NEA said.
On top of this, NEA also said that Town Councils are not allowed to engage in commercial activities, including the organisation and operation of fairs, as these activities are not related to their statutory function of management and maintenance of common property.
The Ministry of National Development (MND), which governs the operation of Town Councils, had sent AHPETC a formal reminder of this on Jan 14.
“AHPETC has continued to blatantly break the law and wilfully exposed their tenants to legal action,” NEA said.
AHPETC could not be contacted for comment. The case will be due for mention on 18 February 2014.
Since 2011, NEA has taken 15 operators to court for operating unlicenced fairs in various locations across Singapore, including in wards run by PAP Town Councils. Eleven of the operators were fined amounts up to S$800, while the remaining four are pending court mentions.
NEA said that there are currently 28 approved fairs in operation island-wide, three of which are located in the Aljunied/Hougang area.
This is the second time a trade fair run by AHPETC has been deemed illegal. On Dec 4 last year, NEA also threatened to take court action against Events Business Management (EBM), the operator of an event held at Kovan.
NEA said that EBM had not submitted paperwork to apply for a license to hold a trade fair, while EBM’s management said that it had submitted all the documentation it had needed to, and the event it was running was not considered a trade fair.
At that time, AHPETC chairman Sylvia Lim said that the town council had appointed EBM to organise a “year-end festive event”.