CJ-led bench to consider petition filed over election

A three-member panel of judges has been named to consider the Fundamental Rights (FR) petition filed seeking an order to prevent the holding of the Presidential Election as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has not been properly passed in parliament.

Accordingly, the petition filed by Attorney-at-Law Aruna Laksiri is slated to be considered before a bench comprising Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Justices Arjuna Obeysekara and Priyantha Fernando.

The relevant petition has been fixed for consideration before the aforementioned judge panel on Monday.

The petition argues that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was not properly passed in Parliament and, therefore, calls for a referendum to ensure its proper passage.

The Election Commission and its members, the General Secretary of Parliament, and the Attorney General have been named respondents.

The petitioner claims that through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Article 70 of the Constitution has been amended to deprive the President of the power to dissolve an elected Parliament after one year has passed.

The petitioner asserts that a referendum has not approved the amendment, even though a Supreme Court bench ruled that the amendment should be referred to a referendum.

The petitioner points out that the amendment cannot be considered a law because it has not been approved by a referendum and signed by the President.

Therefore, the petitioner argues it is wrong to continue accepting the 19th Amendment as a law.

On Monday (08), the Supreme Court dismissed a fundamental rights (FR) petition seeking an order preventing the calling of a Presidential Election until the Supreme Court delivers its interpretation of the presidential poll date.

The petition, which was filed by an entrepreneur named C.D. Lenawa, had requested that an interim order be issued to prevent the holding of the presidential election within the currently scheduled period until the court delivers its interpretation on the date of the next presidential election.