Order was reserved in the
Fundamental Rights application citing the Right to Information with regard to
the COPE report of the previous Parliament, regarding the bond issue of the
Central Bank. The Petition filed in August of 2015, states that all citizens
including the Petitioner are entitled to every right to all information with
regard to the Central Bank bond issue that took place early in 2015, which by
some accounts had led to a colossal fraud, amounting to rupees14 billion. The
Petition filed by Dr. Nalin de Silva, stated that all information should be
available to the citizens of Sri Lanka on this issue, as that was a
constitutional position, and stated that there is a newly promulgated Right to
Information law, which guarantees citizens' rights on obtaining such
information.
When this issue was taken up in the
Supreme Court recently, Counsel for Petitioner Rajpal Abeynayake countered
preliminary objections made by the Counsel for the the Prime Minister,
President's Counsel Mr. K. Kanag Ishwaran. President's Counsel Dr. Harsha
Cabraal appeared for the Governor of the Central Bank and Presidents' Counsel
Shanki Parthalingam for one other Respondent, and Mr. Malinda Goonewardne
appeared for the Attorney General.
Preliminary objections of opposing
Counsel were essentially based on the legality of the Right to Information as a
Fundamental Right. Counsel argued that the Right is still not justiciable.
Counsel for the Petitioner Rajpal
Abeynayake said that the Right to Information has already been recognized as
justiciable even before the enactment of the fundamental right.
Counsel Abeynayake filed written
submissions and stated that under guise of preliminary objections, Counsel for
Respondents had taken up substantive issues with regard to the application per
se, made by the Petitioner.
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