JHU goes to Courts against 19th Amendment

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) yesterday filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the proposed 19th Amendment to the Constitution, claiming that it was a violation of the election manifesto of President Maithripala Sirisena.
JHU National Organiser and Provincial Councillor Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe filed the petition on behalf of the party while JHU lawyers M.C. Jayaratne and Tudor Perera appeared for the petitioner.
Warnasinghe addressing the media expressed their displeasure over fact that in the 19th Amendment, the proposed devolution of powers among the heads of State and Government was vague.
“The manifesto of the President had evidently mentioned that he would not go for any Constitutional amendment which would call for a referendum. The latest amendment has proposed to make the prime minister the head of the government without a referendum. The people elected President Maithripala Sirisena with a mandate to curb the arbitrary powers of the presidency and not to make the prime minister the head of the government, which would call for a referendum. There are a number of contradictory and vague statements in the reforms too. The 19th Amendment is also not the one approved by the Cabinet of Ministers,” he said.
Altogether, nine petitions including the petition of the JHU have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the proposed 19th Amendment to the Constitution.