PM to announce govt’s official stance on IGP issue

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena will officially inform Parliament of the government’s official position on the Supreme Court decision regarding the post of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), in a special statement tomorrow (26).

The Cabinet of Ministers, which convened an urgent meeting yesterday (24), had decided to announce its response to the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the Inspector General of Police (IGP) within two days after studying in depth the legal aspects of the matter.

The Supreme Court yesterday (24) issued an interim order preventing Deshabandu Tennakoon from performing duties and functioning in the position of the IGP.

The Supreme Court had issued this order after granting leave to proceed with the nine petitions, filed by several parties including Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, challenging Tennakoon’s appointment as the IGP.

The Supreme Court had also ordered the President to name a suitable person for the position of IGP, for the duration of the interim order being enforced against Deshabandu Tennakoon.

Accordingly, a special cabinet meeting was called last evening (25) at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, chaired by President Ranil Wickramasinghe.

The Cabinet of Ministers was of the opinion that since the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the IGP was received only this afternoon, adequate time is needed to conduct an in-depth study of the related legal issues.

Accordingly, it was unanimously decided that it would be most suitable to announce the response of the Cabinet within two days.