Speaker tells Parliament Foreign Exchange Bill legal

The Supreme Court has said that the draft Foreign Exchange Bill is not inconsistent with the Constitution, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed the House yesterday. 

With the clearance received, the Bill will soon be moved in Parliament.  A Special Determination petition challenging the Bill titled ‘Foreign Exchange, 2017’ was filed before the Supreme Court by UPFA Joint Opposition MP Bandula Gunawardena on 12 April seeking a declaration that the Bill shall become law only through a two-thirds majority in Parliament and the approval of the people at a referendum.

The petitioner said that clauses of the Bill were in vehement infringement of Articles 03, 04, 12 (1), 14 (1) (g), 27 (2) (a), 27 (3), 148 of the Constitution and duly required the approval of the people through a referendum by virtue of the provisions of Article 83, since the said clauses and the Bill collectively have been drafted to exclude the regulation of ‘Gold” exchange, which was regulated hitherto through the Exchange Control Act No. 24 of 1953 (as amended), which can have unforeseeable consequences endangering the national economy, security, fundamental rights and the sovereignty of the people.

The petitioner further stated in his petition the clauses and the Bill collectively have been drafted to exclude the application of uniform rates of exchange as authorised by subsection (3) of section 76 of the Monetary Law Act, which had a binding force on all foreign exchange transactions in terms of section 5 (2) of the Exchange Control Act No. 24 of 1953 (as amended), which can have unforeseeable consequences endangering the national economy, security, fundamental rights and the sovereignty of the people. (AH)