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By S.S. Selvanayagam
The Court of Appeal further extended the Interim Order till 17 November staying the decision to ban the use of full face helmet and fixed for hearing the Writ applications those are seeking an order prohibiting the authorities from taking any steps towards imposing ban on the use of full face helmets.
The Bench comprised Justices Vijith K. Malalgoda (President of the Court of Appeal) and P. Padman Surasena.
There are three Writ petitions filed seeking an order prohibiting the authorities from taking any steps towards imposing ban on the use of full face helmets.
Petitioners are Chartered Accountant Chanaka Dassanayaike, Retired Army Major Manoj Nalaka and former City Coroner Edward Agangama.
They cited the Inspector General of Police, the Minister of Public Order, Disaster Management and Christian Affairs, the Minister of Internal Transport and the Attorney General as the respondents.
Iresh Seneviratne, Theeksha Weragoda and Pulasthi Rajapaksa appeared for the Petitioners. Deputy Solicitor General Janak de Silva appeared for the Respondents.
Petitioners state the Media Spokesman of the Police on 2 March 2 announced that a ban on the use of full face helmets would be implemented with effect from 21 March in view of the increased number of robberies and it was withdrawn later on.
The Media Spokesman of Police on 25 March notified to the public at a press conference that the ban on the use of full face helmets will be made effective with effect from 2 April 2015, they state.
Motor Traffic (Approved Protective Helmets) Regulations 1990 and Sri Lanka Standard 517; 1994 does not prohibit the use of full face helmets by motor cycle riders or pillion riders, they maintain.
There has been no empirical or anecdotal evidence to support the notion that the proposed ban on the use of full face helmets would reduce or halt robberies being committed, they contend.
The objective of minimising crime rates, which is the purported objective of introducing the ban on full face helmets, could be achieved through other less restrictive means, such as simply ensuring that full face helmets imported, manufactured or otherwise sold in Sri Lanka fully comply with the Motor Traffic (Approved Protective Helmets) Regulations 1990, thus ensuring that full face helmets do not by any means obscure, conceal or distort the identity of the wearers of such helmets, they stress.
They are seeking an order from the Court in the nature of a Writ of Prohibition prohibiting the respondents from taking any steps towards imposing the proposed purported a ban on the use of full face helmets which was intended to be imposed with effect from 2 April 2015.
