• Emergency regulations not required to control prices
• He can suspend certain laws and pass new laws through emergency regulations

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera

The President has taken over extraordinary powers by declaring emergency regulations in the pretext of protecting consumers, the National People’s Power (NPP) said yesterday.

NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Parliament that emergency regulations were not required to control the prices of sugar and rice and that there were provisions of the other Acts for that purpose. He said the President could have used section 17 of the Public Security Ordinance instead of declaring regulations under section 2 of the Public Security Ordinance, which provides extraordinary powers for the President. Speaking during the debate on emergency regulations, he said the President used provisions of the Essential Public Services Act (No. 61 of 1979) to declare essential food supply and Consumer Affairs Authority Act to declare maximum price for sugar and rice and added that he had not used provisions of the emergency regulations for this. “Raids on sugar and rice storages were also conducted under the provisions of the CAA Act.

Declaring emergency regulations were not required for any of these,” he said. MP Dissanayake said declaration of emergency regulations under section 2 of the Public Security Ordinance would empower the President to act beyond normal laws of the country, which was a dangerous move.