AG raises preliminary objection in CA; order on issuance of notice on 22 November

Bickering on 

re-designation of wards and number of members

By S.S.Selvanayagam

The Attorney General yesterday (16) raised a preliminary objection on the maintainability of the Writ Petition seeking to quash the decision of the Minister of Provincial Council and Local Government.

 Pursuant to certain purported recommendations of the five-member  National Delimitation Committee headed by its chairman Ashoka Peiris, the Minister has through a gazette notification dated 17 February 2017 effected the amendments by amending the boundaries, number of members and the constituent parts of wards in respect of local authorities.

 The matter was taken up before a bench comprising Justices L.T.B. Dehideniya (President/CA), Kumudini Wickramasinghe and A.L.S. Gooneratne.

 Deputy Solicitor General Arjuna Obeysekera appeared for the respondents the Minister and the Ministry Secretary raised the objection on the ground time limit that the petition has been filed after nine months and the petitioners has no locus standi (the right or ability to bring a legal action to a court of law, or to appear in a court), there is no necessary parties in the petition namely the Election Commission, etc.

The court fixed its order for 22 November to issuing notices on the intervenient petitioners.

Petitioners W.D.G. Wijeratne (Kandy District), T. Sirisena Fernando (Colombo District), R.K.M. Karuatilake Kumara ( Kurunegala District), D.K. Ariyaratne( Badulla District), J.K. Rajapaksha Senadheera (Ratnapura District) and P.H. Yohan Dhanushka (Matara District) the cited the Minister and the Ministry Secretary as respondents.

The petitioners stated that the legislature has sought to amend the manner in which members are elected to local authorities and introduce a new electoral system which is a mixed system comprising elements of a single majority (i.e. First-past-the-post) and proportional systems.

 They state the legislature has added another aspect to the electoral process pertaining to election of members to local authorities whereby certain guarantees are imposed on the election of female representatives.

 The said status required a comprehensive national delimitation process which was necessary for the demarcation of all local authorities into distinct wards and to determine the number of members that could be elected.

The President by a gazette notification dated 21 August 2015 has published the number of wards, the boundaries, names, number alphabetical letter in English assigned to each ward so create on the recommendations of the National Delimitation Committee in respect of the local authorities throughout the island, they state.

 The Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils is vested with the power to cause an alteration to be made to the boundaries of the wards as published in terms of the Local Authorities Act, they state.

Such alterations are required to be made on the recommendations of a committee consisting of five persons appointed by the Minister, they state.

Consequent to the publication of the gazette notification dated 21 August 2017, the Minister had ostensibly appointed a committee to ostensibly effect the alterations to boundaries of ward, they lament.

 Pursuant to certain purported recommendation of the committee, the Minister has by gazette notification dated 17 February 2017 has effected purported amendments, they state.

 They bemoan several wards in Colombo and Kandy Municipal Councils as well as Kotapola,Panduwasnuwara, Haliela and Empilipitiya Pradeshiya Sabhas which were designated as multi-member wards have been redesignated as wards which only elect one member and other several wards which elected only one member have been re-designated as multi-member wards.

They say the Minister had made alterations to the number of members elected from a ward in many local authorities throughout the island.

 They contend the Minister is not empowered to cause any alteration to the number of members and the boundaries of wards. They allege the Minister has acted ultra vires (beyond his powers) and without jurisdiction.

They seek the Court to quash the decision of the Minister contained in the gazette notification dated 17 February 2017 and suspend the operation of the said gazette notification until the final determination. The UNP, JVP, PAFFREL, Caffe, Pothujana Peramuna and Eksath Jathika Nidhahas Peramuna intervened to challenge the original petition.