- Court to hear FR petition today
The Acting Attorney General (AG) is to represent the Election Commission (EC) during the hearing of the Fundamental Rights (FR) petition filed by businessman Chamindra Dayan Lenawa, seeking to delay the announcement of the upcoming Presidential Election until the Supreme Court (SC) clarifies the poll date, The Daily Morning learns.
A five-judge Bench of the SC, headed by the Chief Justice (CJ), President’s Counsel (PC) Jayantha Jayasuriya, is set to hear the FR petition filed by Lenawa, today (8).
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (7), a senior official of the EC said that they recently met with Acting AG Parinda Ranasinghe Jnr. PC, and discussed the matter. “We informed the Acting AG that what we are going to do (preparations to hold the Presidential Election) is Constitutional. We discussed the matter with him, and he informed us that he would represent us (EC) in the SC when the petition is being heard.”
Meanwhile, in response to a query as to whether the relevant legal proceeding would have any impact on the arrangements to hold the Presidential Election, EC Chairperson R.M.A.L. Ratnayake clarified that a legal proceeding would have no such impact unless a Stay Order (a ruling issued by the court that halts further process in a certain activity) is issued preventing them (EC) from going ahead with the related duties.
Filing the FR petition in question, Lenawa argued that although the relevant section of the Constitution was amended by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the relevant amendment is controversial. According to him, the relevant Amendment reduced the President’s term from six years to five years and was intended to apply to the sitting President at the time. However, he argued that any such amendment affecting the sitting President should have been subjected to a public referendum under Section 12 of the Constitution, which did not occur in this case.
The petition is to be heard before the five-judge bench of Jayasuriya PC, and SC Judges, Justices Vijith Kumara Malalgoda PC, Murdu Fernando PC, Preethi Padman Surasena and S. Thurairajah PC.