Diana unseated 

Diana Gamage

• Supreme Court rule Diana Gamage disqualified to be a Parliamentarian as she has no Sri Lankan citizenship
• SC makes scathing remarks on Court of Appeal which dismissed the initial petition filed by Civil activist Oshala Herath
• Stresses law should be equal to all 

The Supreme Court in a unanimous verdict delivered yesterday unseated State Minister Diana Gamage. 

The Court held that Gamage was disqualified to be a Parliamentarian as she has no Sri Lankan citizenship. As a result a new seat in Parliament opens up for Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). 

Justice Janak De Silva reading portions of the judgment in open court said that Gamage has failed to prove her Sri Lankan citizenship before the Court. 

“Besides, all that the 1st Respondent needs to do is to provide the relevant declaration made by the Minister or the exemption granted to her. That may well have been the answer to the pending criminal proceedings.” he said. 

Commenting on the Court of Appeal judgment which dismissed the initial Petition filed against Diana Gamage, Justice De Silva said that there was an issue which has caused him “great concern.” “I am constrained to address another point relied on by the Appellant, which has caused

Court great concern. He said that the Judgment was almost entirely a reproduction of the written submissions filed by Diana Gamage and other parties” the judgment said and thereafter elaborating that there was merit in what had been placed before Court.

“I have given anxious consideration to this submission of the Appellant and find that there is much merit in it. The majority judgment (from pages 5 to 27) indeed contains 80 parts as alleged by the Appellant, sequentially, which are either a verbatim reproduction or a slight variation (without any acknowledgment of the source) of the Appellant’s petition before the Court of Appeal, the Appellant’s written submissions filed in March 2023 and the 1st Respondent’s written submissions filed in May 2023” the judgement said. 

The Court said that no one should be treated above the law. “Article 12 (1) of the Constitution states that all persons are equal before the law. The blindfold on Lady Justice depicts objectivity and impartiality. It is a direction to all judges, as well as all persons involved in the administration of justice, that all persons before the court should not be judged for their appearance, power, status, fame, or wealth, but solely for the strength of the claims or the evidence they are presenting. Our system of justice does not, and in practice should not, have one law for those in positions of power, privilege and responsibility and another for those who are not”.

Counsel Hafeel Farisz appearing for the Petitioner Oshala Herath had detailed in Court how the judgment contained no analysis whatsoever and was a reproduction of the written submissions filed in court by Diana Gamage and other parties. 

On 31 October 2023 Court of Appeal President Bandula Karunarathna and K. Swarnadipathi delivered the majority judgment dismissing the initial petition filed to unseat the Parliamentarian. Justice Ahsan Marikkar wrote a dissenting judgment holding that Gamage was disqualified to hold office. 

Civil activist Oshala Herath appealed the majority judgement to the Supreme Court on which order was delivered yesterday.

‘Counsel for the Appellant told the Court that the law was not applied equally in this case. The Law demands that everyone be treated equally the powerful and the powerless’ the judgement held.

The judgment held that it was clear that Diana Gamage was a British Citizen and that she had not obtained Sri Lankan citizenship. 

The Supreme Court thereafter delivered yesterday’s order unseating the Parliamentarian from holding office. 

Earlier civil society activist Oshala Herath filed a Writ of Quo Warranto alleging that Diana Gamage was a British citizen and is not a Sri Lankan citizen. The petition said that she cannot hold office as a Parliamentarian without being a citizen of Sri Lanka.

Counsel Hafeel Farisz with Nishika Fonseka and Shannon Thilekarathne appeared for the Petitioner Oshala Herath. 

Farman Cassim PC appeared for the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Shavendra Fernando PC appeared for Diana Gamage and Deputy Solicitor General Disna Warnakula appeared for the Attorney General.