Ministers Manusha Nanayakkara and Harin Fernando have filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition before the Supreme Court.

Accordingly, the petition was filed seeking an order to nullify the Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s (SJB) decision to suspend their party membership and disqualify them of their parliamentary seats.

The respondents named in the petition include SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara.

On 18 July, the SJB Working Committee decided to expel Fernando and Nanayakkara from the party.

In May 2022, the SJB had suspended the party membership of the two parliamentarians after they had accepted ministerial portfolios in the government while the party had vowed to take disciplinary action against them.

MPs Harin Fernando and Manusha Nanayakkara were sworn in as the Minister of Tourism & Lands and Minister of Labour & Foreign Employment, respectively.

Fernando and Nanayakkara had said they accepted ministerial portfolios in the government under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to do their utmost to find solutions to the ongoing economic crisis as a positive response was not received from many political party leaders for a collective effort.

They both subsequently resigned from their ministerial portfolios on July 9, 2022 along with the rest of the Cabinet, after then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa informed the Speaker of Parliament that he intends to resign.

However, they were both reappointed to the same ministerial portfolios by President Ranil Wickremesinghe when he appointed a new Cabinet on July 22, 2022.