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SC rejects objections made by AG, grants CEJ leave to proceed in elephant ownership case
Allegations that PM, Wildlife Minister directing AG to withdraw cases against those illegally keeping tamed elephants Pix by M A Pushpakumara
The allegation that the Prime Minister, the Minister of Wildlife and the rest of the Cabinet are interfering with the statutory powers of the Attorney-General by directing him to withdraw all cases against those illegally keeping tamed elephants and hand the animals back to them “has far reaching ramifications” if true, the Supreme Court (SC) observes.
A three-judge bench of the SC made the observation when it rejected the objections made by the Attorney-General and granted leave to proceed in respect to a petition filed by the Centre for Environment Justice (CEJ) and four others challenging the Cabinet Paper titled “Taking a policy decision in respect of tamed elephants where judicial proceedings and investigations are being conducted and transferring the ownership,” submitted for approval of the Cabinet of Ministers by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Minister of Wildlife and Forest Conservation C B Ratnayake.
The judgement was written by Justice Janak De Silva, with Justices Gamini Amarasekara and Kumuduni Wickremasinghe agreeing.
“The Attorney-General is vested with extensive statutory powers in relation to criminal investigations and prosecutions. Such powers are held in public trust. They must be exercised for the due administration of justice according to the rule of law which is the basis of our Constitution,” the SC bench stressed.
“Any type of dictation from whatever quarter will compromise the independence of the Attorney-General unless such dictation is permitted by law. Any compromise of the independence of the Attorney-General will have a negative impact on the rule of law,” it added, noting that the heart of the Petitioners’ complaint is that the Prime Minister, Minister of Wildlife and the Cabinet of Ministers are interfering with the statutory powers of the AG.
“This is a serious allegation, which if true, has far reaching ramifications,” the decision noted. “According to Article 4(d) of the Constitution, it is the bounden duty of this Court to secure and advance the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. These are proceedings brought on behalf of the public at large,” it further remarked.
The court further ruled that it must not allow procedural defects of the nature as alleged by the AG to shackle its constitutional duty to examine the allegation of the Petitioners at the leave to proceed stage.
Ravindranath Dabare with Suwanthi Ponnamperuma for the petitioners. Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena appeared for the respondents.
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