OSB: SC dismisses Sumanthiran’s FR petition

The Supreme Court yesterday (29) refused to grant leave to proceed with the petition filed by Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran, against the enactment of the controversial Online Safety Bill (OSB) in Parliament.

Sumanthiran filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition before the Supreme Court on Feb 14, naming Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC, as respondents.

The SC dismissed the case in the wake of the Attorney General’s objections that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to intervene in legislative matters following the Speaker’s certification to a bill passed by Parliament.

In his petition, the TNA MP challenged the Speaker’s certification of the Online Safety Act, claiming that several recommendations made by

the Supreme Court with regard to certain provisions of the Act had been ignored by the Speaker, and that the Attorney General had failed to diligently advise both the Parliament and its Speaker regarding the same.