• GL explains legal possibility of the same over critique of SC interim order against Treasury Secy. 

The main Parliamentary Opposition Party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is at present mulling the possibility of bringing contempt of Court charges against Government Parliamentarian, Attorney Premnath C. Dolawatte over a Parliamentary privileges’ related issue raised by the latter in connection with the Supreme Court’s (SC) recent interim order preventing the Finance Ministry from withholding 2023 Budgetary allocations for the announced Local Government (LG) polls.

While the SJB is currently discussing the same with their lawyers, speaking in the Parliament recently regarding the same, jurist and Opposition MP Prof. G.L. Peiris too explained about the possibility of filing contempt of Court charges against Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna MP Dolawatte over the latter's statement in the Parliament regarding the recent interim order issued by the SC which prevented Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies and the Treasury Mahinda Siriwardana from withholding the money allocated for elections in the 2023 Budget. Commenting on the matter of privilege raised by Dolawatte that the powers and privileges of the Parliament have been violated through the said interim order, Prof. Peiris stated that while there is no possibility of filing civil, or criminal cases against the MP in question for statements made under the guise of Parliamentary privileges, the contempt of court jurisdiction however, on the other hand, presented a unique case. 

"I say that he is also at risk as a result of his statement. The law is that if a statement is made under the guise of Parliamentary privileges, no civil or criminal case can be filed against the MP who does so, but contempt of court is not a civil case and nor is it a criminal case; it is a unique case. Therefore, a MP who uses Parliamentary privilege directly to attack a judgement of the SC is placing himself/herself in jeopardy, because he/she is not protected by the Parliamentary privileges. Dolawatte said that the Parliamentary privileges have been violated by this interim order. But in reality, he went beyond that. He directly criticised the SC's order in the Chamber. It can't be done. His statement contains three criticisms of the order. He says that the SC did not take into account the affidavit submitted by Siriwardana, and that it was wrong for one SC bench to intervene while another bench of the same Court is looking into a related matter, and also that it was wrong for a particular SC Judge to have sat on the bench hearing the matter as it was against natural justice."

Meanwhile, SJB General Secretary and MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara, who filed the fundamental rights (FR) application number 69/2023, based on which the interim order against Siriwardana was issued, told The Daily Morning that the SJB was currently discussing with lawyers regarding the possibility of filing contempt of Court charges against Dolawatte. "We are currently discussing the matter. We will do everything possible to defeat these conspiracies to postpone the LG elections."

After permitting the hearing of the said FR petition, a three-Judge SC bench comprised of Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, Janak De Silva and Priyantha Fernando issued an interim order on 3 March 2023, on Siriwardana, preventing him from withholding the funds allocated through the 2023 Budget for election related purposes, including the LG elections which were scheduled to be held on 9 March, and then postponed until April due to the Treasury not releasing the required funds.

Following the issuance of the interim order, Dolawatte raised a matter of privilege in the Parliament on 7 March through which he claimed that he sees the said interim order “as a clear breach of the privileges and powers of the Parliament. The Parliament has the power to act when there is a violation of its powers and privileges arising from Article 4(c) of the Constitution. Articles 148, 149 and 150 of the Constitution vests the Parliament with (i) the full control over public finance including the Consolidated Fund, while (ii) monies from the Consolidated Fund can only be withdrawn under a warrant signed by the Minister of Finance and (iii) a warrant can be issued only if the money is voted on by the Parliament for a specific public purpose,” he said in the relevant letter sent to the Speaker of Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana. 

Meanwhile, State Minister of Finance, Shehan Semasinghe requested the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Ajith Rajapakse last week to instruct the relevant authorities not to act on the said interim order until the inquiry carried out by the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics and Privileges regarding Dolawatte's privilege issue is concluded. However, Semasinghe's request was criticised by several Opposition MPs, particularly by SJB MP, Chief Opposition Whip and Attorney Lakshman Kiriella, and SJB MP, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader and Attorney Rauff Hakeem.