Colombo (LNW): The Supreme Court today (03) ordered that the consideration of petition filed against the government’s alleged attempt of waiving off the loans obtained from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) during the government’s domestic debt optimisation (DDO) process be postponed until August 09.
This was when the petition was taken up for consideration before the Supreme Court bench comprised of Justice Priyantha Fernando today (03).
The said petition was filed by eight persons including Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala on behalf of the Inter-Company Employees’ Union and its Chairman former MP Wasantha Samarasinghe, claiming that the RW-led regime’s DDO plan waives off the loans obtained from the superannuation funds, namely the EPF and the ETF, thereby seeking an order preventing the government of committing such a conduct.
The petitions argued that these funds i.e. 93 per cent of the money deposited in the EPF and 86 per cent of the money in the ETF have been invested in government treasury bills and Central Bank bonds, and the working community of around 20 million Sri Lanka are being unfairly treated by the government by the attempt to waive off the loans obtained from these funds in the guise of DDO.
The petitioners, therefore, requests the Supreme Court to rule that the basic human rights of the working people would be violated, were the government to proceed with this affair, where the relevant funds were curtailed in the DDO process, and issue an interim order barring the action.
