What: The Workers' Party town council was in court yesterday, with the National Environment Agency (NEA) lawyers as the public prosecutor.

Who: The chairwoman of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) Sylvia Lim. The lawyer representing WP is Peter Low.

Why: The prosecutor's case is that the AHPETC was not given a permit to run a Chinese New Year fair from Jan. 9 to 30 this year.

When: Yesterday was the first day of the trial. The trial will continue over the rest of this week and last until next Tuesday.

How: If found guilty, the AHPETC can be fined up to $1,000.

Developing story:

It was Day 1 of the trial on Oct. 14, 2014.

In legal speak, the AHPETC "is charged with the commission of the offence under Section 35 of the Environment Public Health Act, Chapter 95".

NEA lawyers argued that AHPETC contravened the act, which states that a permit is necessary for "any temporary fair, stage show or other such functions or activity".

The first prosecution witness was Tai Ji Choong, director of the Environmental Health Department at NEA.

Tai explained that the NEA could not process the AHPETC’s application for the fair permit because the application was incomplete.

AHPETC did not respond to NEA's email and went ahead with the fair.

AHPETC's lawyer Peter Low disputed NEA's argument, pointing out that it was a "mini-fair" or an "event". Hence, it did not need a permit to organise a Chinese New Year fair in January.

Low also highlighted the difference between a 2008 version of the “trade fair” application form, and the version NEA sent to AHPETC last December. The 2008 version stated that grassroots organisations, town councils and charitable organisations are allowed to hold fairs, while the version NEA sent to AHPETC did not include the words "town council".

A further point of contention: Why did the WP Town Council need to seek a "letter of support" from the Citizens Consultative Committee (CCC) in applying for a permit to hold a trade fair?

The CCC in this case was the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol CCC, chaired by a People’s Action Party (PAP) grassroots leader, Victor Lye, who is also the PAP branch chairman in the area.

WP's lawyer, Low, asked the NEA director of environmental health to explain why it was necessary to get the CCC's approval as a condition for the permit.

According to news reports, the judge ruled that "the issue surrounding the conditions for a permit should not be argued in the present trial but at a judicial review" but reserved judgement on whether the NEA should explain why TCs in general require a “letter of support” from the CCCs when applying for a permit to hold trade fairs.

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