Ranil and others pull out Writ Petition

Writ of Quo Warranto against Mahinda

By S. S. Selvanayagam

Petitioners yesterday pulled out their Writ of Quo Warranto Petition against Mahinda Rajapaksa and 48 others before the Court of Appeal, as they had achieved the relief they had sought.

The matter came up before Justice Arjuna Obeysekera.

The Writ Petition was filed by 122 Parliamentarians of diverse parties, disputing the holding of offices, and sought to restrain Mahinda Rajapaksa and 48 other Respondents from functioning in the offices of Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, non-Cabinet Ministers, and Deputy Ministers, respectively.

Petitioners in their Writ of Quo Warranto Petition required the Respondents to show in what authority they claimed to function as Prime Minister and respective offices as Cabinet Ministers and non-Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

K. Kanag-Iswaran PC with Ikram Mohammad PC, A.M. Faiz, Viran Corea, and Suren Fernando appeared for the Petitioners.

Gamini Marapana PC, with Navin Marapana as well as Romesh de Silva PC, Manohara de Silva PC, Sanjeeva Jayawardena PC, Ali Sabry PC, and Shaveendra Fernando PC appeared for the Respondents.

The Petition for Writ of Quo Warranto (a writ or legal action requiring a person to show by what warrant an office or franchise is held, claimed, or exercised) was filed by Ranil Wickremesinghe and others, as well as Parliamentarians of diverse parties totalling 122 Petitioners.

Petitioners sought a mandate from the Court requiring the Respondents to show by what authority they claimed to function as Prime Minister and/or Ministers and/or Deputy Ministers.

They also sought the Court for a declaration that the Respondents are not entitled to hold the office of Prime Ministers and Ministers or Deputy Ministers.

They asked the Court to restrict the Respondents from functioning as Prime Minister, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, until the final determination and hearing of their application.