Hearing of petitions against 20th Amendment postponed

The Supreme Court has postponed until next Monday (17) the hearing of the petitions submitted challenging the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which was presented to the Parliament by the JVP.

Twelve petitions filed against the private member’s bill were taken up for hearing today (14) before a three-judge bench comprising Justices Sisira de Abrew, Prasanna Jayawardena and Murdu Fernando.

Presenting submissions for the Center for Policy Alternatives, President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran stated that the general public in the country have expressed their consent on several occasions for the scrapping of the Executive Presidency.

He stated that all the executive presidents, who had been in office since the administration of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s government, had requested the public for privileges to abolish the executive presidency.

Abolishing executive presidency does not violate the sovereignty of the people in the country, President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran further stated.

Subsequently, further hearing of the petition was postponed to September 17.