SC upholds SLMC decision to revoke

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday (6) that the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress’s decision to revoke the party membership of Minister Naseer Ahmed for acting contrary to a decision of the Supreme Council of the party was legal.

After conducting a full hearing on the petition submitted by Minister Naseer Ahmed requesting that the decision to revoke his party membership be null and void, the said petition was dismissed.

This has been decided by the Supreme Court judges Preethi Padman Surasena, S.Thureiraja and Mahinda Samayawardena by giving two separate judgements.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress had decided not to vote against the Appropriation Bill for 2022 presented to Parliament by the Minister of Finance on November 12, 2021. All the members agreed to that decision in the emergency meeting of the Supreme Council of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress on November 22,2021.The Supreme Council informed the members of parliament of the party that they could vote against the bill or abstain from voting if necessary.Despite this, MP Naseer Ahmed voted in favour of the Bill.

Then on April 23, 2022, a letter was issued by the Secretary General of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Nizam Kariyapper, expelling Naseer Ahmed from Party membership.

Ahmed submitted this petition asking for a ruling that the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress’s decision to revoke his party membership was against the law saying that he had not received any fair investigation.

It is mentioned in this Supreme Court decision by Judges Preethi Padman Soorasena and S.Thurairaja that petitioner Naseer Ahmed had voted in favour of the Appropriation Bill, going against the decision of the Supreme Council of the Party. It is also mentioned in the decision that he has violated the Party’s discipline and the party secretary has sent letters to him inquiring about the matter. He has refrained from explaining the facts on the basis of which he did so.

The Bench has pointed out that the petitioner had previously given a pledge that he would act according to the decisions taken by the Supreme Council of the Party. Despite this, the Bench decided that the petitioner has violated the pledge by acting contrary to the decisions taken by the Supreme Council of the party.

The Bench decided that the letter issued by the Party General Secretary expelling the petitioner from the party membership was legal. Judge Mahinda Samayawardena, a member of the three-member Supreme Court Bench, has stated in his decision that the court does not have any reasonable grounds to interfere with the letter issued by the general secretary of the party depriving the petitioner of his Party membership. In both the judgements, it is stated that this petition will be dismissed after considering the facts presented.

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