Govt halts divestment of eight major SOEs, SC informed

The Attorney General's Department has notified the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka that the current government will not go ahead with the previous administration's plan to sell eight significant State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). These include Sri Lanka Telecom, SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, and Lanka Hospitals. A State Counsel representing the Attorney General shared this information during a hearing for a Fundamental Rights petition filed by Gunadasa Amarasekara and others, who are disputing the legality of the planned sales. The Supreme Court heard the case with a panel of three judges: Justices Achala Wengappuli, Mahinda Samayawardhena, and Sampath Abayakoon, as reported by Ada Derana. The petition named the Cabinet of Ministers from the previous government and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe as respondents. During the session, the State Counsel also informed the Court that, while the divestment decision has been canceled, a committee has been formed to manage the internal restructuring of the affected enterprises. Following this update, Attorney-at-Law Kanishka Witharana, representing the petitioners, indicated that there was no longer a legal reason to continue with the petition since the government had officially withdrawn the proposed sales. After reviewing the information from both sides, the Supreme Court bench decided to conclude the proceedings and stop further examination of the petition. Please note that, due to legal restrictions, the Ada Derana Editorial team has decided to disable comments on all articles related to ongoing court cases. Copyright ©2026 Ada Derana. All rights reserved.