Appeals petition filed before SC over electricity tariff hike

The Supreme Court has fixed for consideration on August 04, a petition which was filed requesting the dismissal of the decision taken by the Court of Appeal to dismiss a writ petition filed against the electricity tariff hike without taking it up for consideration.

The petition was called before a three-member Supreme Court bench chaired by Justice Murdu Fernando today (March 22).

The relevant appeals petition was filed by the Electricity Consumers’ Association and the Centre for Environmental Justice, naming a group including the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) as respondents.

They have claimed in the petition that the decision arrived at by the Cabinet of Ministers to increase the electricity tariff was unlawful, adding that the Cabinet has curtailed the powers of the PUCL through this move.

Therefore, the petitioning party requests the Supreme Court to issue an order declaring that the decision taken by the Court of Appeal to dismiss the writ petition filed by them without taking it into consideration was unlawful, and to order the annulment of that decision.