- Decision contrary to the public interest: YJA
The Young Journalists’ Association of Sri Lanka (YJASL) has filed a fundamental rights (FR) petition before the Supreme Court (SC), seeking an order to quash the appointment of Deshabandu Tennakoon as the Inspector General of Police (IGP), arguing that it is illegal, arbitrary, irrational, and contrary to, and in violation of the relevant provisions of the Constitution.
The nine members of the Constitutional Council (CC), including its Chairman and the Speaker of the Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana and the CC’s Secretary Dhammika Dasanayake, along with the Attorney General, President’s Counsel Sanjay Rajaratnam representing the President, and Tennakoon, have been named as the respondents of the petition. An interim order preventing and suspending Tennakoon from performing the functions of the IGP until the final determination of the petition, has also been sought by the petitioners.
The petitioners have said that it is necessary that the Head of the Police Department be a person who is of unblemished character, and who is able to establish public confidence in the criminal justice process and the Department. They also stated that the failure to take all possible steps in selecting and appointing a suitable candidate is contrary to the best interests of the people, and the duty on all organs of the State to respect, secure and advance the FR of the people. They further claimed that Tennakoon is not the senior-most Police officer in the Police, and that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry which investigated the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019 has recommended that disciplinary action be initiated against him for his alleged failure in performing his duties to prevent an attack despite having intelligence reports of an impending attack.
Considering the submissions, they have requested the SC to grant leave to proceed with the petition, to declare that the relevant respondents have violated the FR of the petitioners, to declare that the nomination and/or appointment of Tennakoon as the IGP is unlawful and without any force in law, to declare that Tennakoon’s nomination as the IGP has not been duly approved by the CC, to quash and set aside the appointment in question, to grant and issue an interim order preventing and suspending him from performing the functions of the IGP, and to direct the relevant respondents to submit to the SC all correspondence pertaining to the nomination and appointment of Tennakoon as the IGP.
Source: themorning
