The Supreme Court today ruled that the fundamental rights of the people have been violated due to the wrong economic decisions of former presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and a former finance minister, Basil Rajapaksa.
The Supreme Court decided that due to the wrong economic management decisions taken by them from 2019 to 2022, the fundemental rights of the people have been violated.
The petition filed by Professor Maheen Mendis of the Open University of Sri Lanka, former president of the Chamber of Commerce Chandra Jayaratne, international swimmers Julian Bowling, Jehan Kanakaratne and Transparency International was heard before a five-member panel led by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya.
Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Bhuwaneka Aluvihare, Moordu Fernando, Vijith Malalgoda announced this judgement, and Justice Priyantha Jayasuriya disagreed with that judgement.
The petition had pointed out that the 681 billion rupees tax relief given to businessmen after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president was the primary cause of the current economic crisis.
In addition to this, several issues include keeping the dollar at the 203 rupee limit, delaying receiving assistance from the International Monetary Fund, and paying 500 million dollars of sovereign bonds knowing that there will be a foreign exchange deficit.
The other defendants in the case were former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Kabral, former President’s Secretary P.B. Jayasundara, former Treasury Secretary SR Artigala and former Central Bank Governor Professor W. D. Lakshman. The court also ordered the respondents to pay Rs 150,000 each to the petitioners.