The Supreme Court declared today (29) that the decision made by the Council of Ministers to allocate a house at Mahagamasekara Mawatha, Colombo, to former President Maithripala Sirisena, even after his retirement, violates basic human rights.
The Court ordered the invalidation of the Cabinet decision, which was made on October 15, 2019, to provide the said house to Maithripala Sirisena. This verdict was announced by Supreme Court Justice Priyantha Jayawardene, with the concurrence of Judges Gamini Amarasekara and Kumuduni Wickramasinghe, who presided over a fundamental rights petition filed by the Alternative Policy Center and its Executive Director Dr. Pakyasothy Saravanamuthu.
The petition challenged Maithripala Sirisena’s actions as head of the Cabinet, arguing that they constituted a violation of public trust and basic human rights. Judge Priyantha Jayawardene emphasized that it was unlawful for Maithripala Sirisena to approve the allocation of the house while serving as head of the cabinet, and reiterated that such actions were against the law even before his retirement.
The judge further asserted that the decision made by the Cabinet was a policy decision of the government, which the Supreme Court has the authority to intervene in. Consequently, the bench concluded that the decision violated basic human rights and ordered its cancellation.
