UPFA MP Geetha Kumarasinghe who was disqualified from holding a seat in Parliament by the Court of Appeal yesterday, has 42 days to appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court.
President’s Counsel Upul Jayasuriya speaking to Daily News said she would have to apply for Special Leave in the Supreme Court or for Leave from the Court of Appeal before she can take her appeal to the Supreme Court.
“Special Leave petitions don’t usually take long unless they prolong it. It is usually disposed of in 3-4 weeks”, said Jayasuriya.
If Kumarasinghe is granted Special Leave to Appeal the decision, she can sit in Parliament until the appeal in the Supreme Courts is determined . As of now however, she has been suspended from Parliament with immediate effect.
Secretary General of Parliament, Dhammika Dassanayake in the meantime said the Speaker was yet to be informed of the Court of Appeal decision but they would abide by the Court’s ruling.
“We will have to wait and see if she would appeal the decision and we will consult the Attorney General’s Department as to what we can do”, he said.
He added that this was not a common occurrence but they had not come across such an incident in recent history.
In September 2015, five residents from Galle petitioned the courts stating that Kumarasinghe was a holder of dual citizenship - in Sri Lanka and Switzerland - and at the time of nominations, she had not divulged her citizenship status in Switzerland. Kumarasinghe was elected to Parliament at the 2015 Parliamentary elections from the Galle district. Section 20 of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Article 91(1)(d)(xiii), the petitioners pointed out clearly stated that those who hold dual citizenship cannot be qualified to be elected as Members of Parliament.