Constitutionality of hurried Bills challenged

16 March 2013 04:08 am

Fifteen petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Constitutionality of 11 Bills hurriedly presented in parliament by the government to meet requirements of the 2013 Budget.

Petitioners are seeking a special determination of the Supreme Court on these Bills. The petitioners had challenged the constitutionality of the bills in accordance with the Supreme Court determination on the appropriation bill.  

The petitions challenging the Bill titled “Fiscal Management Responsibility (Amendment) was filed by Centre for Policy Alternatives and Y.M. Punchibanda.

The Petition in respect of the Bill titled “Finance” was filed by Y.M. Punchibanda. W.A. Samarasinghe and A.A.M. Nizar filed their Petitions challenging the Bill titled “Betting and Gaming Levy (Amendment)” while M.K. Hemapala filed four petitions challenging the Bills titled “ Strategic Development Projects (Amendment)”; “Notaries(Amendment)”; “Powers of Attorneys (Amendment)” and “Registration of Documents (Amendment)”.

Umalgilige Piyasena filed two petitions challenging the Bills titled “Tax Appeals Commission (Amendment)” and “Value Added Tax (Amendment)”.

K.L. Premadasa and A.K.D. Upali Jayantha filed their petitions challenging the Bill titled “Inland Revenue (Amendment)” while Upali Jayantha and Hemapala Gurusinghe filed their petitions challenging the Bill titled “Nation Building Tax (Amendment).”

Ten other Bills including the 11 mentioned above mentioned were presented by the Leader of the House on March 8. They are as follows: (1) “Excise (Amendment)” (2) “Ports and Airports Development Levy (Amendment) (3) “Telecommunication Levy (Amendment)” (4) “Customs (Amendment)” (5) “The Customs Ordinance” (6) “Marriage Registration (Amendment)” (7) “Muslim Marriage and Divorce (Amendment)” (8) “Births and Deaths Registration (Amendment)” (9) “Kandyan Marriage and Divorce (Amendment)” and (10) “Resettlement Authority (Amendment)”. (S.S. Selvanayagam)