The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ruled that the recommendations made by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, appointed by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to investigate alleged political vendettas, violated the fundamental rights of Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe, the former Director General of the Bribery Commission and former Solicitor General.
In its landmark decision, the Supreme Court declared that the findings and recommendations made against Wickramasinghe by the said commission are null and void. This judgment was delivered following a fundamental rights petition filed by Wickramasinghe, in which she sought to annul the commission’s conclusions on grounds of illegality and constitutional violations.
The ruling was issued by a three-member bench comprising Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, Gamini Amarasekara, and Achala Wengappuli. In announcing the verdict, the judges emphasized that the commission lacked the legal authority to investigate the complaint lodged against Wickramasinghe. Consequently, the bench unanimously held that the commission’s findings and recommendations against her were unlawful and invalid.
Wickramasinghe’s petition named former Supreme Court Justice Upali Abeyratne—Chairman of the Presidential Commission to Investigate Political Victimization—as well as former Court of Appeal Justice Chandra Jayathilake and former Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando as respondents.
In her petition, Wickramasinghe contended that the commission accused her of abuse of power and misconduct, alleging she had brought disrepute to the public service during her tenure as Director General of the Bribery Commission and as Solicitor General at the Attorney General’s Department. She asserted that the issuance of such recommendations by the commission was legally flawed and amounted to a violation of her fundamental human rights.
The Supreme Court has now affirmed that her fundamental rights were indeed infringed and has invalidated all adverse recommendations and findings made against her by the commission.
