TNA parliamentarian and Attorney M.A. Sumanthiran says that the manner in which the Supreme Court has determined the Expropriation Bill is a sad indictment on the highest court of the land. Sumanthiran has said in parliament that it was sad to see what the Supreme Court has been reduced to, especially how the court has pronounced upon the bill without any material whatsoever placed before them.
“How can the Supreme Court, like this legislature, how can the Supreme Court rule on whether a particular enterprise is under performing or not without examining the accounts of the enterprise. Without examining other material,” Sumanthiran has said.
“In one hearing at which only the Attorney General appears, and is said to assist the court, the court has come to a ruling that 37 enterprises have in fact underutilized assets and one of them is an underperforming enterprise,” he has added.
Sumanthiran has noted that it is a sad indictment on the highest court of the land.
“I am saddened by the fact that I am an officer of that court and being prevented from assisting the court in the determination of this bill, because it was an urgent bill hurriedly and secretively taken up for hearing,” he has noted.
The TNA parliamentarian has blamed the 18th Amendment for the current situation.
“We have such quality judges because of the 18th Amendment. Because judges are no longer vetted by the Constitutional Council, there is no independent judiciary in this country anything that the secretary to the cabinet certifies as an urgent bill and sends they know the message in the certification in the urgent bill,” he has said.
Sumanthiran has also charged that the parliament has now become an under performing asset as well.
“I like to ask this question about underperforming enterprise. What about this parliament? By a good test the parliament today can be described today as an under performing enterprise. It has lost all its powers merely because the government has obtained by dubious means a two thirds majority. This house has been reduced to a mere rubber stamp,” the legislator has charged.
SLM
