By A.J.A Abeynayake

The Supreme Court (SC)issued an interim injunction yesterday (06) preventing the implementation of the Gazette Notification issued by the Ranil Wickremesinghe government, to increase the annual fees for liquor licences.

The notification, Gazette No. 2024/1, was challenged by the Sri Lanka Liquor Licence Holders Association through a fundamental rights petition. The petition was considered by a bench consisting of Justices Dilip Navaz, Kumuduni Vikramasinghe, and K. Priyantha Perera.

The petitioners’ legal representatives, President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris and Sanjaya Jayawardena, presented arguments in the case. After considering their submissions, the Court granted permission to proceed with the petition.

The petitioners argued that the significant increase in the licence fee by more than 50% — raising the annual fee to Rs. 20 million — would cause them severe injustice and violate their fundamental rights. The petition also named several respondents, including the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance.

The petitioners were represented by Attorney-at-Law Neelshanta Siriwimanna, and President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris and Sanjaya Jayawardena. On behalf of the respondents, Deputy Solicitor General Rajiv Perera appeared representing the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and other respondents.

The petitioners also requested that the SC to order the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance to issue a directive in line with the provisions of the Gazette Notification issued in 2017, regarding the collection of licence fees.

Govt. insists on capping its members to ensure functionality

In the previous Parliament, where there were six Opposition parties, 10 slots were allocated for the Opposition at the Committee on Parliamentary Business.

However, there were now 12 Opposition parties represented in Parliament but only four slots had been allocated  for them in the same Committee, Chief Opposition Whip, SJB MP Gayantha Karunathilaka told Parliament on Friday (06).

“We met Speaker Ashoka Ranwala Friday morning to discuss this. How can we manage with four slots?” he asked.

Meanwhile, MP Ramanathan Archchuna, representing Independent Group 17 from Jaffna, urged the Speaker to allocate to him at least 30 seconds in each session because the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa would not allocate time for him to speak. “As you know I can’t go to his office to talk to him. Please consider my plight and give me some time during each session. Even 30 seconds is enough,” he said.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said the standing orders of Parliament would not be violated by increasing the number of members in the Committee on Parliamentary Business. “This won’t increase expenses. I urge the government to increase the number of Opposition MPs. I can guarantee that the Opposition MPs won’t just try to disrupt,” he said.

Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) said that although he was an Opposition MP, he did not have a working relationship with the main Opposition. Most of the political parties in Parliament only had a single MP, he said. “Standing orders were created when there was effectively a two-party system. These do not accommodate the reality of the present Parliament. The Committee on Parliamentary Business must have at least one member from each party in Parliament,” he said.

Chief Government Whip, Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the Committee on Parliamentary Business was the most important Committee in Parliament. According to Standing Orders, the Committee should comprise seven ex officio members and 12 other MPs.

“When we increase the non ex officio members to 16, the Committee on Parliamentary Business will have 23 members. I think we have to cap the number at this point. The number of political parties represented in Parliament may increase or decrease depending on the election. The number of parties can go up to 20 even. If we keep on increasing the number of members, we won’t have functioning committees. We can’t have 50 members in the Committee on Parliamentary Business,” he said.

Jayatissa said the Opposition leader and the Chief Opposition Whip are already included in the seven ex officio group. The government has agreed that four other MPs should be included in the non ex officio group. “There are six slots for the Opposition. It’s up to the Opposition to divide these slots among the MPs. If there is a problem with the Opposition not having enough time to express themselves in Parliament, we are willing to discuss and allocate some of our time. However, we urge the Speaker not to increase the number of members in the Committee on Parliamentary Business to more than 23,” he said.

Leader of the House, Bimal Rathnayake said they agree to allocate one more position at the Committee to the Opposition and the Opposition Leader must talk to the parties and appoint an MP. “By default, an additional slot will be given to the government, bringing the number of members in the Committee on Parliamentary Business to 16, excluding seven ex officio members” he said.

Minister Rathnayake said the Committee on Parliamentary Business must not be conflated with the party leaders group. This is also not the only Committee in Parliament. “The Parliament may someday decide that all political parties in Parliament must be represented in the Committee on Parliamentary Business. However, no such decision has been taken. There is an ad-hoc grouping called the party leaders meeting. The Committee on Parliamentary Business can’t accommodate everyone. The Committee is limited to a certain number of experienced, reasonable groups for a reason. The Committee on Parliamentary Business must start and end at a stipulated time. Our opinion is that this Committee must have a limited number of MPs. We can’t accommodate every party. This is the reality. I urge you to accept this reality,” he said.

Given that the Opposition Leader and the Chief Opposition Whip represent the SJB, the other four slots can be given to Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), New Democratic Front (NDF), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and to one other party.

“We have decided to give the Chairmanship of the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) to an Opposition MP. We have also increased the number of members of COPA. People who can’t enter the Business Committee can join COPA because we think oversight should be increased. However, we will keep the Chairmanship of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) because we need to investigate what the previous government has done. We can’t let a former Minister sit at the helm of COPE,” he said.

The NPP government was planning to increase the allowance for differently abled individuals from the current Rs 7,500 to Rs 10,000, said Sugath Wasantha de Silva, Sri Lanka’s first visually impaired MP, in his maiden parliamentary speech yesterday.

“This increase will be implemented from the 2025 Budget. I must emphasise that this is not intended to foster dependence on the state. We will also take steps to ensure the differently abled community is socially empowered and actively participates in the country’s workforce. This is a responsibility that the NPP is committed to fulfilling,” he said.

MP de Silva highlighted that while Sri Lanka ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 8 February 2016, successive governments have failed to introduce the necessary legislation to give it practical effect.

He further stated that the government intends to lower taxes on equipment designed to improve the lives of differently abled individuals within the next five years.