The Supreme Court ruled today that the draft brought by Basil’s henchman, MP Jayantha Ketagoda, to authorize the ministers in charge to recall the dissolved local government bodies is against the constitution. The aim of this draft was to protect the local Rajapaksas members of the Pohottuwa by pressuring the court, not to holde an election through the majority of the parliament. It was included in the agenda of the Parliament on July 5th.
The Pafrel organization submitted a petition to the Supreme Court last July, demanding that certain clauses of the draft be ruled against the constitution.
In addition to this, Ms. Balthasar, the Colombo Municipal Council candidate of the Jathika Jana Balavega NPP and Ranjith Madduma Bandara, the General Secretary of the Samagi Jana Balavega submitted a petition requesting that the bill be passed through a referendum and with the approval of a majority of members, stating that the Municipal Council Amendment Ordinance Act is against the Constitution.
The Speaker announced the decision regarding Katagoda’s petition to the Parliament, marking another victory for democracy against the regime of Ranil Rajapaksa.
Accordingly, Section 2 of the three bills namely “Pradeshiya Sabha (Amendment)”, “Nagara Sabha (Amendment)” and “Municipal Council (Amendment)” challenged before the Supreme Court under Article 121(1) of the Constitution, 1 of the Constitution, 12(1), 82, 83 and 104B as they are inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 12(1), “Pradeshiya Sabha (Amendment)”, “Municipal Council (Amendment)” and “Municipal Council (Amendment)” all these three bills were passed by special majority vote of the Parliament. , the Supreme Court has decided that according to the provisions of Article 83 of the Constitution, it must be approved by the people in a referendum”
The Paffrel organization continued to express its displeasure about the people’s representatives working beyond the tenure given by the people and the MP’s acting in an arbitrary and undemocratic manner. This petition bearing the number SC (SD) NO25/2023 was filed on the 12th of July and the respondents were MP Jayantha Ketagoda and the Attorney General.
This decision is a great victory for the people who value democracy in Sri Lanka in recent history. Also, in relation to the arbitrarily postponed local government elections, the Supreme Court petitions filed by the Paffrel organization and other parties are also working to achieve such a victory. Recently, politicians have seen a tendency to undermine democratic values by abusing the parliament to consolidate their power. Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of Paffrel, said that this decision has emphasized, it is not possible to continue to undermine democratic values.
