SC petitions against new alcohol rules postponed to end March

There won’t be a quick, legal resolution of opposition to the ban on the sale of alcohol to Sri Lankan women, after some petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the rule were postponed to end March and early May.

On Tuesday, when two petitions challenging the withdrawal of the gazette notification allowing the sale of alcohol to women and permitting them to work in places where alcohol is produced and sold were taken up before the Supreme Court, the cases were postponed by the court to March 29 and May 9. This came after the Attorney General, appearing for the petitioners including the Finance Minister, wanted time to “obtain instructions from the Finance Minister”.

The petitions sought leave to appeal ( proceed) on the grounds that the gazette was a violation of the fundamental rights of the petitioners.