The Supreme Court (SC) today (12) rejected the preliminary objections raised by the Attorney General against the fundamental rights (FR) petition filed by Anoma Fonseka on behalf of her husband Gen. Fonseka.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Asoka De Silva, Shiranee Thilakawardena and Chandra Ekanayake examined the petition.
The petitioners ,wife of the General, Anoma Fonseka, and Attorney at law Sharmila Perera in their petition claimed that the General was forcibly and wrongly arrested under the military laws when he is now not in Army service, and requested the Court to release him.
Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, Army Commander Lieutenant Jagath Jayasooriya, Major General Sumith Manawadu, the officer in charge of Colombo security, the Attorney General and several others were cited as respondents.
The Solicitor General Sanjaya Rajaratnam on behalf of the Attorney General, raising objections to the petition said, the application was not legally valid as the first petitioner applicant Anoma Fonseka cannot represent her husband. As the second petitioner has also not filed the Lawyer’s affidavit with the petition, the application is not valid under the constitution and is in conflict with the SC regulations. The Solicitor General therefore requested Court to reject the petition. However, the Court refused to accept his arguments.
The SC pointed out that more than the constitutional requirements and the Court regulations, the subject matter at hand, the FR petition is overriding; hence, the Court rejected the preliminary objections of the Solicitor General.
The SC gave permission to examine the petition as to whether there is indeed a violation of FR under Sections 11,13(1) and 13 (2), Chapter 111 of the constitution.
Although the State counsel objected to this, the Court told him to file the answer on the 23 Feb., the next date of the case.
The Lawyer filing the election petition, PC and Attorney at law Wijedasa Rajapakse and a Justice of the peace were given permission by the Court to meet Gen. Fonseka and get instructions regarding the filing of the election petition. This was an additional request made in the FR petition.
President’s Counsel and Attorney at Law Shibly Azeez appeared on behalf of the petitioners.
The case was postponed to 23rd February for further examination of the petition
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