Petition filed alleging SL has excess Cabinet & State Ministers

COLOMBO (News 1st); A professional Engineer, Kapila Renuka Perera, has filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court alleging that the Government has appointed more Cabinet and State Ministers than the number specified in the constitution.

The petition alleges that the Constitution of Sri Lanka has been violated by the appointment of two Cabinet Ministers and four State Ministers in excess of the amount stipulated in the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

According to Article 20 of the Constitution, the number of members of the Cabinet should be limited to 30 and the number of State Ministers to 40.

The petition filed by Attorney-at-Law Dharshana Weraduwage states that the President of the country has failed to act in accordance with the Constitution of Sri Lanka assigned to him by not acting accordingly.

The petition further points out that the responsibility of safeguarding and nurturing the Constitution of the country is a major task of the President of the country.

The petition names 82 persons including the Attorney General, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and State Ministers, Secretary to the President PB Jayasundara and Secretary to the Ministry of Finance SR Attygalle.

The petitioner has pointed out to the Supreme Court that when considering the 2022 annual budget proposals and documents presented to Parliament by the present Minister of Finance, it was found that the annual expenditure of the Government has increased by Rs. 525 billion.

The petitioner further alleges that the main reason for this is the appointment of Basil Rajapaksa as the current Minister of Finance and Namal Rajapaksa as the Minister in charge of Development.

In addition, the petitioner has pointed out to the court that Chamal Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa, Dilum Amunugama and Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle have also been appointed as additional State Ministers.

Therefore, he requests the court to issue an order invalidating the two Cabinet Ministers and the four State Ministers who have been appointed in violation of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution.