Petition against LG delimitation Gazette withdrawn; court dissolves stay
November 30, 2017 01:50 pm
The Court of Appeal today dissolved the stay order issued against the implementation of the Gazette notification on Local Government delimitation after the petition filed against it was withdrawn by the petitioners.
A stay order had been issued preventing the implementation of the Gazette notification, when the petition seeking to invalidate the Gazette notification issued on the Demarcation of wards of Local Authorities was taken up by the Appeals Court on November 22.
This had put the forthcoming Local Government elections in jeopardy while the Elections Commission had decided to hold elections for 93 Local Government bodies, which have no legal dispute.
However, the Minister of Provincial Council and Local Government Faiszer Musthapha informed the Parliament today that the six petitioners who had challenged the Gazette notification have undertaken to withdraw their petition.
He made this observation while responding to a question raised in Parliament by JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The minister responded saying that extensive discussions were held with the petitioners following the intervention of the Prime Minister and party leaders. He stated that the Secretary to the ministry had also held talks regarding the matter and that the petitioner and a representative of the AG’s Department who is representing him were sent to court and the case settled.
Accordingly, the petitioners have informed the court that they will withdraw the petition, Musthapha said, adding that he personally agreed to do some sort of justice for the facts presented in the petition.
