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JVP to file petition before SC challenging Port City Economic Commission Bill

The proposed Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill will turn the Colombo Port City - a dream project of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa - into a Chinese colony, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) alleged. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Monday (12) that the bill would allow the Port City to function beyond the existing laws of the country.

He further added that the proposed bill which was included in the Order Paper of Parliament would empower the president to appoint a Colombo Port City Economic Commission which includes five or seven members named by him.

Under the bill, the commission would be empowered with special financial power and judicial immunity, he claimed.

Local businesses, he said, would not be allowed to establish laws in the post-city areas. Another controversial clause is the payment of salary to the staff working in the port city zone. The rules will empower the commission to pay salaries to employees even in foreign currencies.

There was a threat of the Port City becoming a separate territory with independent powers devoid of common laws of the country, he said. He stressed the need to defeat it being enacted in Parliament.

Accordingly, the JVP has decided to file a petition with the Supreme Court today (15) challenging the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill.

Meanwhile, The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) have also filed petitions before the Supreme Court today challenging the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill.  

The petitions were filed by CPA Executive Director P. Saravanamuttu and AITP Chairman Engineer Kapila Renuka Perera on behalf of their respective organisations.

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