Supreme Court to determine today, the constitutionality of the Finance Bill

  The Supreme Court has listed 7 Special Determination petitions for hearing from today (27). The petitions seek to challenge the constitutionality of the Finance Bill. The seven petitions will come up before a three-judge bench comprising Justice Priyantha Jayawardena, Justice Kumuduni Wickremasinghe and Justice Shiran Goonaratne today at 10 am. Seven petitions have been filed so far against the Finance Bill which was placed on the order paper of Parliament on July 29. They are; Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, SJB Parliamentarian Eran Wickremaratne, JVP former Parliamentarian Sunil Hadunneththi, former Deputy Secretary of the Ceylon Bank Employees Union (CBEU)  Ekeshwara Kottegoda Vithana, former UNP Parliamentarian Saman Rathnapriya and two others. The petitioners are seeking a declaration that the Bill in whole or in part requires the approval by the people at a Referendum and requires a two-thirds majority in Parliament. The Petitioners alleged that the purpose of the said Bill is to extend immunity and immunity to the persons who have defrauded different kinds of taxes due under the revenue laws.