• Rules officers failed to prove irregularities in promotions

The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed around 40 Fundamental Rights (FR) petitions filed by nearly 1,050 Police officers who were not promoted and had challenged promotions granted to various ranks within the Police Service.

The judgement was delivered on Tuesday (8) by Justice Mahinda Samayawardhena, with Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Sampath K B Wijeratne concurring.

The petitions challenged promotions granted in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023 during the tenures of former Inspectors General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, C D Wickramaratne and Deshabandu Tennakoon.

The promotions challenged by the petitioners included those from Police Constable to Police Sergeant, Sergeant to Sub-Inspector (SI), and SI to Inspector.

In its ruling, the SC held that the petitioners had failed to provide sufficient information to satisfy the Court that irregularities had occurred in the promotion process.

The Court further ruled that the petitioners had failed to establish that their Fundamental Right to equal protection of the law, guaranteed under Article 12(1) of the Constitution, had been violated.

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the petitions challenging the promotions.

The cases involved a large number of Police officers who had sought judicial intervention over their failure to secure promotions, while alleging irregularities in the promotion processes conducted during the relevant periods.

However, after considering the submissions and material placed before it, the SC determined that the petitioners had not established sufficient grounds to demonstrate that the promotion procedures had resulted in a violation of their constitutional rights.

The ruling therefore brings to an end the FR challenges filed by the officers against the promotions granted during the four years in question.

The petitions had sought to challenge promotions across several ranks of the Police Service, covering officers who claimed that they had been overlooked while other officers were promoted.

The SC's determination centred on whether the petitioners had provided adequate evidence of irregularities and whether such alleged irregularities amounted to a violation of their right to equal protection under Article 12(1) of the Constitution.

The three-judge bench, comprising Justice Samayawardhena, Chief Justice Surasena and Justice Wijeratne, unanimously concluded that the petitioners had failed to establish such a violation.