Supreme Court to hear NMRA, SRDA petition on e-passport software on June 9

The Supreme Court has ordered that the Fundamental Rights Petition filed by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) and the Civil Rights Doctors Association (SRDA) seeking an interim injunction to prevent the use of software developed by a private company for issuing of e-passports be taken up for consideration on June 9.

When the petition was called before the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Yasantha Kodagoda and Sampath Abeykoon on Friday (8), only the Attorney General appeared on behalf of the respondents.

Accordingly, the bench instructed the petitioners' counsel to take immediate action against the remaining respondents.

Epic Lanka Ltd., the Attorney General and several others have been named as respondents in the petition.

The petitioners allege that the software developed by Epic Lanka is already in use by both the Drugs Regulatory Authority and for issuing electronic passports.

They further state that there have been previous reports of data fraud involving the National Drugs Regulatory Authority's database.

In light of this, the petitioners argue that the continued use of the respondent company’s software poses a serious risk.

They therefore request the Supreme Court to issue a restraining order to prevent the use of the said software for these purposes.

President’s Counsel Uditha Igalahewa appeared on behalf of the petitioners.