A petition has been filed by the SLPP member before the Supreme Court challenging the government’s bill seeking to revoke privileges granted to former Presidents.

The petition was submitted by Renuka Perera, Administrative Secretary of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), with the Attorney General named as the respondent.

The petitioner stated that the government had presented this bill to Parliament on the 7th to revoke the legal rights granted to former Presidents.

The petition highlighted that clauses 1 to 4 of the proposed bill violated the principle of the separation of powers guaranteed by the Constitution.

Furthermore, the petition alleged that one or more clauses in the bill infringed upon the sovereignty of the country and the people’s sovereignty as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Overall, the petitioner contended that the clauses of the proposed bill violated the fundamental principles enshrined in the entire Constitution.

He further alleged that through this bill, fundamental human rights guaranteed under Articles 1, 3, 4, and 12(1) of the Constitution were directly violated.

Accordingly, the petitioner requested the Supreme Court to issue a ruling stating that for the questionable clauses of the bill to be approved, they had to be passed by a special two-thirds majority in Parliament and be subject to a referendum.

The Presidents’ Entitlements (Repeal) Bill, aimed at repealing the Presidents’ Entitlements Act, was presented to Parliament by Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara on 7 August. The bill was gazetted on 31 July and seeks to abolish special privileges extended to former Presidents and their widows.

Earlier in July, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal to gazette and present the draft bill to amend the Presidents’ Entitlements Act (No. 4 of 1986).