News
SC dismisses challenge to gender change procedures
The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed, without taking up for consideration, a Fundamental Rights petition seeking to invalidate a circular that permits individuals in Sri Lanka to change their gender legally .
The petition had been filed by retired Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Warrant Officer Shantha Jayathilake, who challenged the legality of procedures allowing individuals to alter their gender designation following medical and psychiatric assessments.
Former Presidents Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe, as well as incumbent President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, were among those named as respondents in the petition.
The petitioner alleged that successive governments, including the present administration, had facilitated gender changes through medical procedures in a manner contrary to Sri Lankan law.
Jayathilake contended that the law did not permit a person to change their sex from male to female or female to male through medical intervention in the absence of a biological basis. He further argued that individuals had been allowed to alter their gender identity on the recommendation of a psychiatrist, under guidelines issued in 2016 by the then Director General of Health Services.
The petitioner also claimed that authorities had been issuing revised birth certificates and National Identity Cards to persons who had undergone gender-transition procedures, maintaining that such actions were unlawful.
However, the Supreme Court declined to entertain the application and dismissed the petition without granting leave to proceed.
The Chartered Computer Institute of Sri Lanka was established in 1976 as the premier and sole body representing professionals in the Information and Communication Technology sector in Sri Lanka. It has recognized the importance of establishing the Sri Lanka Chartered Computer Association as the main professional organization to act on behalf of the interests of professionals representing the computer sector in Sri Lanka, which should be treated equally with other professional organizations that have obtained chartered status and other formal recognition.
Accordingly, taking into account a resolution furnished by the Hon. President, the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to grant policy approval for the establishment of the Chartered Computer Institute of Sri Lanka and to instruct the Legal Draftsman to prepare a draft bill in line with the proposed objectives.
it has become essential to introduce appropriate revisions to the Drug Dependent Persons (Treatment and Rehabilitation) Act No 54 of 2007 so that a proper formal mechanism can be maintained in treatment and rehabilitation.
Accordingly, considering a resolution forwarded by the Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to grant the policy approval to revise the Drug Dependent Persons (Treatment and Rehabilitation) Act No 54 of 2007 and direct the Legal Draftsman to formulate a draft bill including the relevant amendments.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to appoint Mrs. O. T. M. I. Thilakarathne, the senior most officer in Sri Lanka Surveyors’ Service serving as an Additional Surveyor General of that Department to the Post of Surveyor General that will be vacant from 20.08.2026.
Charted Computer Institute of Sri Lanka to be established
Drug Dependent Persons (Treatment and Rehabilitation) Act No 54 of 2007 to be amendmend
Mrs. O. T. M. I. Thilakarathne appointed to the Post of Surveyor General
Purchase of 600 buses for intercity / long distance services of the Sri Lanka Transport Board
Protection of Historical, Cultural, and Traditional Intellectual Property related to the Kandy Esala Perahera
Development of roads which are not under the Road Development Authority
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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