KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 (Bernama) -- MIC Youth leaders who would have to vacate their positions upon attaining the age of 41, would be given new branches to play a more prominent role in the party mainstream, said MIC secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said he would propose this move to the party's central working committee (CWC) and the MIC president (Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu).

"We will also request that in the interim period, some of the senior youth leaders offer advice and support to the youth movement until new appointments are made," the human resources minister said in a statement here Thursday.

On Wednesday evening, Dr Subramaniam chaired a meeting with national and state MIC Youth office-bearers at the MIC headquarters to brief them on the decision by the CWC that all Youth leaders needed to vacate their posts upon reaching 41.

At the meeting, he emphasised that despite the latest ruling, the services and contributions of the affected leaders was much needed to further strengthen the movement and the party.

"I told them that their contributions were fully recognised by the party leadership and that they would be given new roles to further strengthen the youth movement," he added.

On the same note, he said the MIC national youth convention, slated for July 6, would take place as scheduled and organised by a youth convention organising committee.

The MIC Youth wing has been on a roller-coaster ride since Dr Subramaniam announced on June 19, that Youth chief S. A. Vigneswaran and several other leaders of the wing would have to vacate their posts with immediate effect, as they had passed the age limit as stipulated in the MIC Constitution.

The decision to ask them to vacate their posts was taken at the party's central working committee (CWC) meeting held a fortnight ago. The CWC is the party's highest decision-making body.

Apart from Vigneswaran, several other leaders would also be given letters requiring them to relinquish their positions in the youth wing. Among them are Youth deputy chief, S. Ramis, Youth secretary M. Kumaresan, information chief K. Raj Kumar and youth representative to the CWC, S. Murugesan.

However, this interpretation of the party's constitution has been refuted by Vigneswaran, saying that the present office-bearers should be allowed to complete their term which ends in 2009, even if they had turned 41 this year.

The Youth chief counter argued, saying the CWC's interpretation of the constitution was inaccurate as Article 20.2 only stipulated that one could contest for positions in the wing, up to age 41.

He had also argued that Article 47 of the same constitution said the party's elected leaders could stay in office for three years and did not state that a youth leader should give up his position upon reaching his 41st birthday.

Since the March 8 general election, Vigneswaran has been at loggerheads with the party leadership and has not attended the past three CWC meetings.

It is also not clear if Vigneswaran, the former Kota Raja (Selangor) member of parliament and youth and sports parliamentary secretary, would be asked to manage a branch or provide any advice for the new Youth leadership to be named soon.

It must be noted that Vigeswaran did not attend yesterday's meeting with Dr Subramaniam, whereas other Youth leaders voiced their full support for Samy Vellu, the party chief.

-- BERNAMA