The Supreme Court has set a date to consider the petitions that have been filed seeking a ruling that the basic human rights of the public are being violated through the decision taken to reduce the benefits paid for the investments made by the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) to the government under the Domestic Debt Restructuring (DDO) programme.

Accordingly, the Fundamental Rights (FR) petitions filed have been fixed for consideration on 23 January 2024 by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

The relevant order was issued when the petitions were taken up before a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising of Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, A. H. M. D. Nawaz and Mahinda Samayawardena.

The FR petitions were put forward by MP Prof. G.L. Peiris and Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s general secretary MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara on 26 September, naming the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, the Monetary Board, the Attorney General and the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and several others as respondents. 

The petitioners have taken issue with the decision to reduce the interest rates paid when investing the funds of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) in government securities, under the DDO program.

The EPF has active accounts of at least 2.5 million working people and their funds are largely invested in treasury bills and bonds, the petitioners added, noting that reducing the interest rate to 9% has violated the people’s fundamental rights.

In addition, the petition claims that the CBSL’s Monetary Board has not sought the views of the members of the EPF before allowing the Fund to participate in the DDO program.