Saturday, December 27, 2008
UNP might haul Cabinet to court
Plans for contempt case on refusal to obey SC order on reduction of petrol prices
By Kelum Bandara
The main opposition UNP said yesterday it was planning to file a contempt-of-court case against the Cabinet, the Finance Ministry, the CPC, the LIOC, and fuel stations for not complying with the Supreme Court ruling to reduce the price of petrol to Rs.100 a litre.
UNP front-liner Ravi Karunanayake told a news conference that on the basis of the present global fuel prices, petrol should cost only Rs.24 a litre but the government sold it at Rs.122 a litre even ignoring the judicial order, and while diesel should cost Rs.39 a litre it was sold at Rs.80.
“UNP national organizer S.B. Dissanayake was jailed for contempt of court for two years. Similarly, those who do not comply with the court ruling can also be charged with contempt-of- court. We will not hesitate to take action against them,” he said. “The government accuses even the judiciary of being a party to an international conspiracy against it.
How can the reduction of fuel price be a conspiracy? Didn’t Minister Bandula Gunawardane bring down the price of cement? Then, shouldn’t he also be accused of helping the LTTE to build bunkers using the cement sold at a lower price.”
Mr. Karunanayake said kerosene cost only Rs.40 a litre today, but it was being sold locally at Rs.60 a litre and vowed he would continue his legal battle until the prices of diesel, kerosene and gas were also reduced in keeping with the downward trend in the world market.
He said under a UNP government petrol would have been sold at Rs.57 a litre, diesel at Rs.50 a litre and kerosene at Rs.20 a litre in keeping with the pricing formula introduced by it when it was office.
“The UPFA leaders criticized the UNP at the time the pricing formula was introduced,” he said.
UNP parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara scoffed at the government’s claim that petrol was a luxury and used by only four per cent of the population and reminded the government that there were 360,000 three-wheelers and 16 million motor bikes operating in the country today.“According to a recent survey, a three-wheeler is known to get about five hires a day with at least two people travelling in it at a time. This means a large number of people use petrol to travel. We are campaigning for their rights and benefits,” he said.
LIOC informs Supreme Court
The Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) said yesterday it informed the Supreme Court about its inability to bring down the petrol price because there was no reduction in the duties imposed on its imports.
LIOC Managing Director Suresh Kumar said his company fully complied with the Supreme Court order, but there was no duty reduction as expected. He said the company brought this to the notice of the Court.
He also said the company had to suffer losses for five days under these circumstances.
Flashback
- UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake, Ven. Theeniyawala Palitha Thera and Ravi Jayawardane filed a petition in the Supreme Court on November 28.
- The case taken up on December 15 and judgment delivered on December 17.
- The Cabinet took up the issue the same evening and on the next day, but decided not to reduce the price saying the Cabinet was not officially notified of the judgment.
- The Cabinet met again on December 23 and decided to file objections to the SCorder.
This time the battle run by UNP won and their pressure on Govt. worked so soon.....
Govt had to bow down in less than two weeks after the court order..
But the reductions are practically nothing compared to the hikes they made when the fuel prices were increased... and Fuel prices have come down less than 50% in USA. And they give a bit and call it a HUGE relief package.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa today said the government would pass on a huge relief package to the people in the New Year which is to be approved by a special cabinet meeting tonight. 
Comments (3) |
Article Viewers (261)
Email to a friend 
Posted By: TRUE LANKAN
