Supreme Court rules Dissolution of Parliament 'unconstitutional'

On a unanimous decision seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court justices quashes the gazette proclamation.

By Shehan Chamika Silva

A fuller Bench of seven Supreme Court (SC) Justices today unanimously ruled that President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to dissolve parliament on November 9, before the completion of four and half years, was unconstitutional and illegal. 

The highly anticipated judgment, delivered before a packed court of lawyers, MPs and journalists, further upheld that the President’s action was an arbitrary Executive act which had violated the fundamental right of  ‘equal protection of the law’(Article 12(1)) of the Petitioners. 

  

Chief Justice Nalin Perera, Justices Prasanna Jayawardena, Priyantha Jayawardena, Vijith K Malalgoda, Buwenaka Aluvihare, and Murdu Fernando agreeing in one judgment decided that the President has violated the Constitution and exceeded his legal limits by dissolving the parliament. The Judgment held that the President had violated the rights of citizens and parliamentarians, and ordered that the gazette proclamation be quashed and pronounced null and void. The Bench also ruled that the said proclamation was null and void, and had no force or effect in law. 

Justice Sisira de Abrew, while agreeing with the CJ's judgment, gave a separate judgment  saying that under the Article 70(1) of the Constitution, the president could not dissolve parliament before four and half years at his own will, or without a two-thirds resolution being passed by parliament. And he declared that the proclamation made dissolving parliament on November 9, 2018 by the President be void ‘ab initio’.

Ten fundamental rights petitions were filed against the declaration of the dissolution of parliament by the President, while eight intervening petitions were filed opposing them. The petitioners sought a declaration from the SC that the president’s dissolution of parliament had infringed their fundamental rights. 

Kabir Hashim and Akila Viraj Kariyawasam of UNP, Lal Wijenayake of United Left Front, CPA, Member of Election Commission Prof.Ratnajeevan H. Hoole, Attorney-at-Law G.C.T.Perera, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, All Ceylon Makkal Congress and Mano Ganesan MP filed the Rights petitions. 

K. Kanag Iswaran PC, Tilak Marapana PC, Dr Jayampathi Wickremaratne PC, M.A.Sumanthiran PC, Viran Corea, Ikram Muhamed PC, J.C.Weliamuna PC, Ronald Perera PC, Hisbullah Hijaz and Suren Fernando appeared for the Petitioners. 

Gamini Marapane PC with Navin Marapane as well as Sanjeeva Jayawardena PC, M.U.M.Ali Sabry PC appeared for the Intervenient -Petitioners. 

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasinghe with Solicitor General Dsappula de Livera, Senior Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Rajaratnam, Additional Solicitors General Demuni de Silva and Farzana Jameel as well as Deputy Solicitor General Nerin Pulle, Senior State Counsel Shaheeda Barrie, State Counsels Kanishka de Silva and Manohara Jayasinghe appeared for the Attorney General.