The Attorney General has requested the Appeals Court to lift the interim order imposed pertaining to the divestment of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and Lanka Hospitals.

Last week, the Appeals Court delivered an interim order temporarily halting all future measures regarding the divestment of SLT and Lanka Hospitals until March 12.

The relevant order was issued upon consideration of a writ petition filed by Lycamobile SARL and Pettigo Comércio Internacional on behalf of SLT and another filed by Lyca Leasing Holding Limited and HIMS International on behalf of Lanka Hospitals.

When the petitions were taken up again before Appeals Court Judge D. N. Samarakoon today (March 06), Additional Solicitor General Sumathi Dharmawardhane made the request on behalf of the Attorney General.

The petitioning companies have alleged that despite having submitted all required documents to the respondents for the transfer of 50.23% state-owned shares in SLT and 51.34% shares in Lanka Hospitals, the Cabinet sub-committee assigned to the restructuring of State-Owned Enterprises rejected the said applications for no apparent reason.

Thus, the companies have noted that the committee’s decision to reject their applications is not only arbitrary and unfair, but also unlawful, given that they had fulfilled all pre-requisites.