{"id":93541,"date":"2019-10-03T14:10:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T21:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93541"},"modified":"2019-10-03T14:10:14","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T21:10:14","slug":"petition-challenging-grs-citizenship-politically-motivated-counsel-ca-to-resume-hearing-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/03\/petition-challenging-grs-citizenship-politically-motivated-counsel-ca-to-resume-hearing-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Petition challenging GR\u2019s citizenship politically motivated – Counsel CA to resume hearing today"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chitra Weerarathne and A.J. Abeynayake Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Romesh de Silva PC, Counsel for SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday requested the Court of Appeal to dismiss a petition challenging the former defence secretary\u2019s citizenship as it was a politically motivated application.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pointing out that the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa had signed Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s Citizenship Certificate by exercising powers following his election as the President at the Nov 2005 presidential poll, PC de Silva said that the Court of Appeal should only consider whether the President endorsed it at the correct time.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court of Appeal will take up the case again at 9.30 am today (04)
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in the day, the Court of Appeal yesterday directed the Deputy Solicitor General Nerin Pulle to submit a sworn affidavit from the relevant authorities to explain why any file related to the dual citizenship issue of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not in the Department of Emigration & Immigration. The Deputy Solicitor General replied that he would attend to the matter without any delay.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the outset Counsel Janaka de Silva told the Court of Appeal that on Tuesday it was told in objections that if the petition was allowed the sovereignty and the franchise of the people to vote would be affected as the eligibility of the candidate was of primary importance. Janak de Silva appeared for the Minister of Home Affairs Vajira Abeywardena. The Counsel referred to article 4 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly the legislative power was exercised by the Parliament elected by the people. The complex thought processes in Article 3 and 4 were expressed by the rest of the Constitution, the counsel said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 4(a) talks about the legislative power of an elected Parliament. Most of the laws are subject to an approval by the people, at a referendum, although the Parliament passes the laws, the Counsel said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Provincial laws are passed by the Provincial Councils, Article 4(6), explains that all executive powers are not vested in the President only. The people derive that power from the Constitution, the Counsel said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Article (30) of the Constitution, state that the President is the Head of the Government and the Commander of the Armed forces; the term \u2018executive\u2019 is broader than the term \u2018government\u2019.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Executive comprises the President, Constitutional Council, the Cabinet of Ministers and the Public Service. Article (33) speaks of the power of the President. Article (43) (1) states that there shall be a Cabinet of Ministers, charged with the direction and the Central of the Government, the Cabinet is collectively responsible to Parliament.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say that the power of the President is limitless is clashing with the Constitution.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say that the power of the President is plenary is not falling in line with the Constitution.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Executive power is the power of the people. It is not vested in the President alone, Counsel explained.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counsel said that files relevant to the dual citizenship issue of Gotabaya Rajapaksa were not in the Department of the Commissioner General of Emigration & Immigration.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counsel Gamini Marapana P.C. objected to that statement by Counsel Chanaka de Silva stating that he was being briefing baselessly by his client.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counsel Marapana P.C. appeared for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is a respondent and who is alleged, according to the petitioners, to have certified the citizenship application of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romesh de Silva P.C. appeared with M.U.M. Ali Sabry P.C. and Sugath Caldera for Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counsel Gamini Marapana objected that Counsel Chanaka de Silva is not strictly referring to the relevant facts of the writ before the court.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bench comprised Justice Yasantha Kodagoda (President), Justice Janak de Silva and Justice Mahinda Samayawardene.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two petitioners Professor Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Gamini Viyangoda had alleged in their petition that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has not duly withdrawn his USA citizenship. Hence he is a dual citizen and cannot contest for the Presidency of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chitra Weerarathne and A.J. Abeynayake Courtesy The Island Romesh de Silva PC, Counsel for SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday requested the Court of Appeal to dismiss a petition challenging the former defence secretary\u2019s citizenship as it was a politically motivated application. Pointing out that the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa had signed Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}