The Court of Appeal yesterday (01) decided to amend the interim injunction previously issued, which prevented the purchase of 750,000 ordinary passports from two companies.
The interim order was modified after considering submissions by Additional Solicitor General Sumathi Dharmawardhana, who represented the Controller of Immigration and Emigration and the Attorney General.
He argued that the order had created a problematic situation.
The petitioner’s legal representatives also agreed to this amendment.
Following this decision, authorities from the Immigration and Emigration Department are now permitted to purchase ordinary passports.
However, the court extended the interim injunction against the purchase of five million e-passports until November 6.
The Court of Appeal had earlier issued an interim order on September 26, based on a writ petition filed by Epic Lanka Pvt. Ltd., preventing the purchase of 750,000 ordinary passports and five million e-passports from two private companies.
The case was heard yesterday before a Bench comprising Justices Mohamed Laffar Tahir and P. Kumaran Ratnam.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Dharmawardhana pointed out that the interim order had caused a severe crisis in the issuance of ordinary passports.
He further highlighted that the Immigration and Emigration had only 13,880 passports left, which could be issued within 30 working days.
After that, there would be no capacity to issue more.
To avert such a crisis, the government had secured Cabinet approval to purchase passports from two private companies.
However, the issuance of the interim injunction had caused significant delays in acquiring the stock of passports, exacerbating the situation.
The petitioner’s representative, President’s Counsel Viran Corea acknowledged the public’s difficulties caused by the shortage of passports and did not object to the modification of the order regarding ordinary passports.
However, he maintained that the injunction concerning the five million e-passports should remain in effect.
The Court also noted that the Acting Controller of Immigration and Emigration was present during the hearing and was expected to appoint a five-member committee to oversee the financial and administrative aspects of passport issuance.
Ultimately, the Court of Appeal amended the injunction, allowing the purchase of the 750,000 ordinary passports while extending the injunction related to the five million e-passports until November 6.
The respondents were ordered to file any objections before that date.
The previous government had decided to purchase the passports from the two private companies, with the relevant Cabinet decision made on September 2.
However, the petition argued that the decision had bypassed proper procurement procedures and was entirely illegal.
Former Public Security Minister Tiran Alles and several other officials were named as respondents in this case.
