SC refuses to hear tariff case

By Stanley Samarasinghe-Wednesday, 19 Jun 2013

The Supreme Court yesterday refused to grant leave to proceed with a Fundamental Rights (FR) application, filed by Lawyers for Human Rights and Democracy, against the recently introduced electricity tariff scheme by the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). General Manager of the CEB, Nihal Wickramasuriya, Chairman of PUCSL, Dr. Jayatissa de Costa, and the Attorney General (AG) had been cited as respondents in the FR application.

The case was taken up before a Bench comprising Chief Justice, Mohan Peiris, and Justices Priyasath Dep and Rohini Marasinghe.

Senior State Counsel, Nerin Pulle, who appeared for the Attorney General, objecting to grant leave to proceed with the petition, submitted to Court that according to the Electricity Act, it is the responsibility of the PUCSL to regularize the electricity tariff.

Directions had been given by the Supreme Court to the CEB and PUCSL in two FR cases, No. 82/08 and 113/08, to arrive at a reasonable and acceptable pricing formula for electricity consumers, the Senior State Counsel submitted.

He also said, it is mandatory for the CEB and the PUCSL to act according to the judgment given by the Supreme Court.

Under Section 14 of the Electricity Act, the CEB and PUCSL must protect the consumers and give benefit to the lowest consumers, which they have done, he added.

Counsel for the petitioner, Kalyananda Thiranagama, argued the proposed tariff increases in the domestic sector are arbitrary, unjust, unfair and discriminatory, in that it imposes an undue financial burden on a certain selected category of electricity consumers.

The PUCSL had ignored the Supreme Court's earlier judgments, and therefore Counsel Thiranagama requested the Court to grant leave to proceed, so that the Court could come to an appropriate conclusion.

The Supreme Court refused to grant leave to proceed.