Harin and Manusha go before Supreme Court against SJB

• The two Ministers are seeking a declaration that they have not ceased to be the Members of Parliament, and that they continue to be and shall remain Members of Parliament 
• Petitioners state that the party decision to expel them from party membership was unlawful and contrary to natural justice

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda   

Tourism Minister Harin Fernando and Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara have filed expulsion petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s (SJB) decision to expel them from party membership.   The two Ministers are seeking a declaration that they have not ceased to be the Members of Parliament, and that they continue to be and shall remain the Members of Parliament.  

The petitioners maintained that they took over the Ministry portfolios, upon many requests by the Members of the General Public who were desperate to see a solution to the eroding situation due to the economic crisis and in keeping in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the SJB.

   
The petitioners have named SJB, SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, its Chairman Sajith Premadasa, Secretary General of Parliament, the Chairman of Election Commission, members of Election Commission and several others as respondents. 

 
The petitioners stated that the party decision to expel them from party membership was unlawful and contrary to natural justice.  

They are further seeking a declaration that the conduct of the purported disciplinary inquiry is in violation of natural justice and thereby null and void and has no force or avail in law.  
These petitions had been filed through Attorney-at-law Dinesh Vidanapathirana and Priyangika Jayawickrama of Vidanapathirana Associates.