The Supreme Court has ruled today that former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa are responsible for causing the current economic crisis and have violated the fundamental rights of the people.
Accordingly, the others who were declared by the decision are the Finance Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, former Governors of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Ajith Nivard Cabral, Professor WD Laxman, former Secretary of the Ministry of Finance SR Artigala, Member of the Finance Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Samantha Kumarasinghe, and former President’s Secretary Dr. PB Jayasundara.
The court announced this decision by announcing the decision of two rights petitions that had been filed asking to take appropriate action against those responsible for the current economic crisis.
The decision was announced by a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Bhuvaneka Aluvihare, Vijith Malalgoda and Murdu Fernando.
The judgment ordered the respondents to pay Rs.150,000 each to the petitioners as fees in this case.
The decision states that the authorities including former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa have failed to take appropriate measures in this regard despite knowing that this kind of economic crisis has been created since 2020.
The verdict states that due to the economic recession, the people’s trust have been violated and the basic rights of the entire people have been violated.
Considering the facts presented, although the respondents are responsible in this regard, the compensation will not be fixed for them, instead, an order will be issued to the petitioners to pay only the court fees of one hundred and fifty thousand rupees each.
