AG suspends forced registration by SLA in North
[TamilNet, Friday, 04 March 2011, 02:50 GMT]
A three-member bench of the Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Thursday terminated the proceedings in the Fundamental Rights application filed by five Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians against the forced registration of resident in the Jaffna district and Killinochchi district by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) after Sri Lanka's Attorney General (AG) informed the Court that SLA will stop forced registration, legal sources in Colombo said. The Deputy Solicitor General, Buvaneka Aluvihare, on behalf of the AG gave the undertaking said that the forced registration would be suspended until a procedure that passes constitutional muster is developed to collect information pertaining to the two districts.
Registration process was introduced following complaints by lawful owners that squatters had occupied their lands, the Deputy Solicitor General told court. The SC bench comprised, Justices N. G. Ameratunga, P. A. Ratnayake and Chandra Ekanayake. The petitioners-parliamentarians were Maavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachchandran, Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy, Easwarapatham Saravanapavan and P. Sritharan. The first respondent was the Defense Secretary Gotabahaya Rajapakse, brother of the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse. Counsel M.A.Sumanthiran appeared for the petitioners. Petitioners said the forced registration was violating the fundamental rights of the people and it was a discriminatory act imposed only on the people of the North. Petitioners further complained that the registration forms required to be filled by residents were only in Sinhala language.
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