The National Environment Agency (NEA) released a statement yesterday following the release of the court’s judgement in the case of the Aljunied Hougang Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) holding an unlicensed fair.
They said that AHPTEC had “sought to disingenuously portray its deliberate flouting of the law as an attempt to obtain guidance from the Court”.
They further said that “AHPETC had neither sought clarification from NEA nor had it raised any legal grounds when it deliberately held a fair without a permit. As the Judge found, AHPETC did not take reasonable care to obtain the necessary licence as required under Section 35 of the EPHA and avoid committing the offence. Instead, AHPETC chose to deliberately and persistently breach Section 35 of the EPHA (Environmental Public Health Act).”
NEA said that the recent court decision has shown that section 35 of the Environmental Public Health Act is important and necessary in protecting the public from possible public health concerns and disamenities which may be caused by fairs.
NEA also said in a media statement that they had already informed AHPETC of the need for a permit and they had continued to remind them but they proceeded with the fair anyway.
The agency also took the opportunity to highlight that all temporary fair operators are required to have a license so that issues such as food hygiene, waste management and noise nuisance can be kept in check for such events.
They explained that the permit application process requires information on these areas so that they can ensure the fair will not disrupt other residents.
NEA also shared that between 2011 and now, there had been 16 cases of unlicensed fairs being taken to task and that it is not just the AHPETC being “picked on”.
The picture painted by NEA is very different from the case presented by the Workers’ Party who runs the AHPTEC.
According to them, they had conducted due diligence to apply for a permit but the permit application was sent back by NEA despite the town council having filled out the necessary sections of the application form.
They explained that they were also asked to receive approval from the PAP-grassroots run CCC to hold a fair in their own ward.