Judge panel at Supreme court approves the National anthem sung in Tamil
A fundamental rights petition was filed in supreme courts against singing of the National anthem at the Independence celebration ceremony this year in the Tamil language.
This fundamental rights petition was taken up for hearing on the 18th instant by the three bench judge panel comprising of Prasad Dep,KT Kithsiri and Prasanna Jayawardena of the Supreme court.
The petitioner had challenged that the National anthem should be sung only in the Sinhalese
language and to grant permission.The deputy Solicitor General who appeared on behalf of the Attorney General had quipped that the National anthem has been written in Sinhala as well as Tamil.The Supreme court attorney at law who appeared on behalf of the the Director General of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) Dr Pakasothy Saravanamuththu had quipped that this petition cannot be discussed further as the National anthem had been written in both Sinhala and Tamil languages.
According to the he Thirteenth Amendment (13A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka is amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka both Sinhala and Tamil languages have been given similar status.Hence it was the reason for rejecting the petition.