The Supreme Court today revoked the interim injunction previously provided by the Court of Appeal preventing the enforcement of the former governments choice to compulsorily retire nurses in four grades at the age of 60.
The Supreme Court likewise released another order to the Court of Appeal to re-examine the petition submitted before the court concerning this matter.The Supreme Court issued this order when an appeal submitted by the Attorney General, seeking to state the relevant interim injunction released by the Appellate Court as unlawful and void, was taken up for hearing today.A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Yasantha Kodagoda, Janak de Silva and A.
H.M.D.
Nawaz released the order.During the previous federal government, the Cabinet of Ministers had taken a decision to make federal government staff members compulsorily retire at the age of 60 years.The Court of Appeal, which heard writ petitions filed by the Public Service United Nurses Association and its President, Venerable Murutthettuwe Ananda Thero, had actually provided this interim injunction, avoiding the application of the pertinent decision.The Attorney General had later on filed an appeal petition in the Supreme Court, stating that the manner in which this interim injunction was provided is contrary to the law and that the Court of Appeal does not have the power to release such an order.After hearing the petition, the three-judge Supreme Court bench provided this order nullifying the interim injunction.