(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –The Court of Appeal will decide whether to hear the petition filed against the Gazette issued on Local Government delimitation, on 22nd November.
The petition was taken up today before a three-member judge bench comprising President of the Appeal Court, Justice L.T.B. Dehideniya, Justice Kumudini Wickramasinghe and Justice Shiran Gunaratne.
Presenting preliminary objections, the Deputy Solicitor General Arjuna Obeysekara who was appearing on behalf of the Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils and the Secretary to the ministry, stated that the petition should be rejected without being taken up for hearing. He pointed out that not including the members of the Elections Commission and Delimitation Committee as respondents in the case was a considerable legal error and also claimed that several distorted facts have been included in the petition.Therefore he requested that the petition be rejected without being taken up for hearing as there was no legal basis to do so.
Attorneys representing several parties also intervened to submit facts to the court. They alleged that there is an attempt to postpone the forthcoming Local Government elections through this petition.
The Court of Appeal stated that the decision on whether the petition will be taken up for hearing will be announced next Wednesday (22).
The petition was submitted yesterday by six citizens with voting rights, who are residents of Colombo, Kandy, Hali-Ela, Matara and Embilipitiya.
