 Proceedings likely to continue for several days By Skandha Gunasekara The seven fundamental rights (FR) petitions calling for the nullification of the Gazette Notification announcing general elections were taken up for hearing before a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday (18). Constitutional lawyer M.A. Sumanthiran PC, appearing for petitioners Attorney-at-Law Charitha Gunaratne and Victor Ivan, made his submissions yesterday, which also covered the importance of parliament for democracy. Deputy Solicitor General Indika de Silva appeared for the Attorney General (AG) while Romesh de Silva PC appeared for the Secretary to the President. Indika de Silva raised several preliminary objections including that of time limitations for the petitioners to file their FR applications. The five-member judge bench at the SC comprised Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Justice Buwaneka Aluwihare PC, Justice Sisira de Abrew, Justice Priyantha Jayawardena PC, and Justice Vijith Malalgoda PC. Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) Senior Researcher Attorney-at-Law Bhavani Fonseka said that the proceedings would likely take several days. “The petition by the CPA will only be taken up on Tuesday (today), so these hearings will take several days I expect. I don’t think proceedings will conclude on Tuesday,” she said. The petitions are to be taken up for hearing again today (19).