SC begins hearing of petitions against proposed Electricity Bill

The hearing of the petitions filed before the Supreme Court seeking an order declaring that certain clauses of the Sri Lanka Electricity Bill, submitted by the government to the Parliament recently, are in violation of the Constitution commenced today (09).

The petitions were taken up for hearing before a three-member Supreme Court judge bench consisting of Justices Vijith Malalgoda, Shiran Gunaratne and Arjuna Obeysekera.

Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena, who appeared for the Attorney General at the start of the hearing of the petitions, emphasized that the government has presented this bill intending to make the generation, distribution and sale of electricity efficient while providing a convenient service to the consumers.

Following the oral submissions by the Additional Solicitor General, the attorneys representing the petitioners had commenced presenting facts.

The petitions have been submitted by 14 parties including the secretary of the Ceylon Electricity Workers’ Union, Ranjan Jayalal.