Excise Special Ops Bureau challenged in CA

By S.S. Selvanayagam

The Court of Appeal issued notices returnable for 7 November on the Commissioner General of Excise, Finance and Mass Media Minister and eight other respondents.

The bench comprising justices L.T.B. Dehideniya (CA President) and A.L. Shiran Gooneratne took action pursuant to a writ petition filed challenging the establishment and continued alleged functioning and operation of the Excise Special Operations Bureaus operating throughout the country.

Petitioner G.W. Amarapala cited the Commissioner General of Excise A. Bodaragama, Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera and others as respondents.

President’s Counsel Sanjeeva Jayawardena with Lakmini Warusevithana and Asoka Niunheela appeared for the petitioner.

The petitioner alleges the said purported units were nothing more than a totally extrajudicial device, calculated and engineered to intimidate lawful license-holders and bludgeon stakeholders in the industry into submission and make them capitulate to the unlawful demands, pressure and machinations of wrongfully motivated excise officers.