Consideration of petitions against Port City Commission Bill underway

The consideration of the petitions filed against the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Draft Bill is currently underway at the Supreme Court.

The petitions are considered before a five-member bench consisting of Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, and Supreme Court Judges Buwaneka Aluvihare, Priyantha Jayawardena, Murdu Fernando, and Janak de Silva.

Speaking in open court before the commencement of the hearing, Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya requested each legal counsel to limit their oral submissions to 20-30 minutes each as there is a large number of lawyers challenging the Draft Bill.

Accordingly, President’s Counsel K. Kanagishwaran then proceeded to first make submissions on behalf of the petitioners.

Nearly 20 petitions had been submitted against the Draft Bill by many parties including Chairman of United National Party (UNP) Vajira Abeywardena, UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara, former Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP Wasantha Samarasinghe, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), General Secretary of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Ranjith Madduma Bandara, and Chairman of the IT Professionals Association G. Kapila Renuka.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Prof. G. L. Peiris, SLPP General Secretary Attorney at Law Sagara Kariyawasam, and the legal association of the SLPP had filed interim petitions to make submissions regarding the petitions.

The petitioners claim that certain clauses of the relevant Bill have violated the country’s Constitution.

They seek a court order ruling that the clauses in the Bill must be passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament and a referendum.