By Dwayne Ferreira.
Police promotion schemes challenged by nearly 1,050 Sri Lankan police personnel have been upheld after the Supreme Court dismissed petitions.
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has dismissed a series of fundamental rights challenges relating to controversial police promotion schemes, bringing an important chapter in a long-running dispute involving large numbers of police officers to a close.
Around 40 fundamental rights applications involving nearly 1,050 police personnel had challenged promotion arrangements introduced to address prolonged stagnation within different ranks of the Sri Lanka Police.
Several groups of officers argued that the schemes unfairly affected their seniority, promotion prospects or constitutional rights.
Recent Supreme Court decisions have, however, upheld the Government’s ability to introduce one-off promotion schemes designed to address exceptional institutional circumstances.
In separate cases, petitions involving groups of Police Inspectors, Sergeants and other ranks were dismissed by benches including Chief Justice P. Padman Surasena, Justice Mahinda Samayawardhena and Justice Sampath K.B. Wijeratne.
Court Considers Longstanding Stagnation
Police promotions have generated repeated litigation over several years.
Earlier Supreme Court judgments acknowledged that promotion within the Police Department had become a complex issue, with different temporary schemes adopted at various times to address officers who had remained in the same ranks for extended periods.
Petitioners in various cases relied principally on constitutional protections relating to equality before the law and the freedom to engage in a lawful occupation.
The Court’s rulings indicate that differentiated promotion policies will not automatically amount to unconstitutional discrimination where there is a rational policy basis for the distinction.
The decisions could have significant implications for future police promotion schemes and attempts by the Government to resolve long-running stagnation within the service.
