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Customs officer’s rights petition to be heard on Tuesday
View(s):A rights petition by Customs Deputy Superintendent T. R. Ratnasiri will be heard on Tuesday. On February 1, the Supreme Court had dismissed Mr. Ratnasiri’s petition to revive a Customs inquiry into an alleged duty fraud running into millions of rupees.Mr. Rathnasiri told the Supreme Court that he wanted quashed and annulled an unlawful decision by the first and seventh respondents to “recover” Customs duty defrauded by Colombo Dockyard Limited.
The respondents are Finance Ministry Secretary P. B. Jayasundara; Director General Customs Sarath Jayathilake; Thilak Perera; the Board of Investment; Colombo Dockyard Limited; former Attorney-General Mohan Pieris, and the present Attorney-General.
Mr. Ratnasiri has named six judges he wanted excluded from the five-judge bench appointed to hear his case. The list includes Chief Justice Mohan Pieris PC and Sathya Hettige PC. Mr. Ratnasiri’s counsel Nagananda Kodituwakku objected to the presence of Justice Sathya Hettige, saying the judge was prejudiced against the petitioner.
The Court had upheld objections by Deputy Solicitor-General Shaveendra Fernando, who said the rights application was based on a judicial decision that could not be challenged, and dismissed the petition.
K. Kanag Ishwaran, appearing for Colombo Dockyard Limited, the sixth respondent, said Colombo Dockyard has settled all statutory levies and payments due to the authorities.
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