The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed around 40 fundamental rights petitions filed by nearly 1,050 police officers and female officers who had not received promotions and challenged promotions granted to various ranks of the Police Service in recent years.
The judgment was delivered by Supreme Court Justice Mahinda Samayawardhena, with the concurrence of Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Sampath Wijeratne.
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 included those from Police Constable to Police Sergeant, Police Sergeant to Sub-Inspector, and Sub-Inspector to Inspector.
Delivering the judgment, the bench stated that the petitioners had failed to provide sufficient information to satisfy the court that irregularities had occurred in the granting of the promotions.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court held that the petitioners had failed to establish that their fundamental right to equal protection before the law, guaranteed under Article 12(1) of the Constitution, had been violated.
The court therefore dismissed the petitions.
