A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court in support of the government’s 22nd Amendment to the Constitution Bill — the first to back the measure after weeks in which every reported filing sought to block it.
The petition was lodged by National People’s Power MP Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi, Ada Derana reported on Tuesday. He sits for the Colombo District and entered the present Parliament at the 2024 general election, according to Parliament’s member directory, which records earlier service taking his total to just under eight years.
The argument
The petitioner contends that the provisions of the proposed amendment do not violate either the sovereignty of the people or the independence of the judiciary. On that basis, he argues, the Bill does not require approval at a public referendum and can be enacted through the ordinary parliamentary process set out in the Constitution.
That is a direct answer to the case made by the challengers. Under Article 3 of the Constitution, a Bill that infringes the sovereignty of the people can be passed only with a two-thirds majority in Parliament and approval at a referendum. Establishing that the Amendment touches sovereignty is therefore the threshold the petitions against it have been built to cross — and the point Nipuna Arachchi’s filing is designed to contest.
A lopsided docket
Ada Derana put the number of petitions challenging the Bill’s constitutionality at “at least 21”. Those include filings by the Bar Association’s president and secretary, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi and a group of social media activists led by Iraj Weeraratne, all of whom want the Amendment put to a referendum. Former Bar Association president Saliya Peiris said on Tuesday that it should not be enacted at all.
No single running total has held across newsrooms. The Speaker told Parliament the count stood at 13 on August 21; Hiru News reported 37 as early as August 19.
The Bill would raise the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and of Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65. The government says it addresses a shortage of judicial officers; critics say extending sitting judges’ tenure by statute compromises the separation of powers.
Ada Derana reported that the government has said it is ready to proceed with the reforms and would comply with any direction the Supreme Court issues on the need for a referendum. It did not report when the court will take up the petitions, or whether Nipuna Arachchi filed in a personal capacity or on the party’s behalf.
