• Neither the Legislature nor the Executive should criticise the Court for fulfilling its duty: BASL

President and Minister for Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment Ranil Wickremesinghe's request for the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to study the Supreme Court's (SC) determination on the proposed Gender Equality Bill is to be discussed at the upcoming party leaders' meeting.

Speaking in the Parliament last week (18 June), the President called on the Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana to appoint a PSC to look into the determination in question.

When asked by The Daily Morning regarding the matter, Speaker Abeywardana said that it has to be decided by the party leaders. "The party leaders should decide it. It will be discussed at the upcoming meeting."

Recently, a three-Judge bench of the SC ruled that the Gender Equality Bill is unconstitutional and cannot be enacted without a two thirds special Parliamentary majority and approval by the people at a referendum.

Following the issuance of the determination, Wickremesinghe opposed the SC ruling, calling it ‘perverse’ and asserting that it infringes upon the constitutional powers of the Parliament. He argued that the Bill's intent to establish national policies on gender equality aligns with existing international obligations and previous judicial interpretations. Furthermore, he criticised the Judiciary for what he termed ‘judicial cannibalism’, suggesting that it overlooked established legal principles and disregarded the rights of women and the protection of Buddhism.

Meanwhile, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), responding to President Wickremesinghe's recent remarks in the Parliament concerning the SC determination, stated that the SC fulfilled its constitutional obligation by assessing the Bill's compliance with the Constitution, the highest law of the country. The BASL emphasised that while individuals are entitled to hold differing opinions, neither the Legislature nor the Executive should criticise the Court for fulfilling its duty to the public.