The Supreme Court has granted permission to hear a basic human rights petition filed against the removal of Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe, who served as the Prime Minister of the Good Governance Government in 2018 by the then President Maithripala Sirisena.Sri Lanka Latest News
It is stated that the court has also ordered the issuance of notices to former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and others who were named as respondents to testify before the court in this regard.
After considering the basic facts regarding the petition, This order has been issued by a three-member Supreme Court bench consisting of Messrs. Thurai Raja, Kumuduni Wickramasinghe and Achala Vengappuli.
After that, the court decided to hear the petition on the 23rd of September and the petition was submitted by Mr. Oshala Herath, a social activist.
The petitioner says that on October 26, 2018, then-President Maithripala Sirisena issued a special gazette notice and removed Ranil Wickramasinghe, who was the Prime Minister at that time.
The petition also indicated that Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed for that position after that.
The petitioner says that former President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appoint Mahinda Rajapaksa to that position is completely against the law, even though the majority power of the Parliament is in the hands of the Prime Minister under the 19th Amendment of the Constitution.
The petition was filed requesting a ruling that the President does not have the legal ability to remove the Prime Minister at his discretion and that the then President Maithripala Sirisena violated the basic human rights guaranteed by the Constitution by removing Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe from the post of Prime Minister.
