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The apex court dismissed the Fundamental Rights (FR) petition seeking an order restraining the holding of the presidential election as the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has not been properly passed in Parliament with costs.
The ruling was made today (15th) by a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya and Justices Arjuna Obeysekara and Priyantha Fernando while hearing a related application filed by lawyer Aruna Laksiri.
Therefore, the court ordered dismissal of the petition and asked the petitioner to pay Rs 5 lakh as cost by July 31, 2024.
The petition stated that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution had not been properly passed in Parliament and therefore called for a referendum to ensure its proper passage.
The Electoral Commission and its members, the Secretary General of Parliament and the Attorney General are named as respondents in the petition.
The petitioners claimed that through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Article 70 of the Constitution was amended to deprive the President of the power to dissolve the elected Parliament after a year.
The petitioners claimed that despite the Supreme Court ruling that the amendment should be put to a referendum, the amendment has not yet been approved in a referendum.
The petitioners pointed out that the amendment cannot be considered as law because it has not been approved by referendum and has not been signed by the president.
Therefore, petitioners argue that it is wrong to continue to accept the Nineteenth Amendment as law.
(adaderana.lk)
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