The Supreme Court yesterday (09) dismissed a fundamental rights petition filed by the Inter-Company Employees’ Union and six others against the government’s plan to restructure domestic debt.
The petitioners requested the court to issue an order to prevent the government from waiving off loans obtained from the EPF and ETF funds during the domestic debt restructuring process.
They claimed that 93% of the funds deposited in the EPF and 86% of the funds deposited in the ETF have been utilised for investments in government treasury bills and Central Bank bonds.
The government’s decision to waive off loans acquired from these EPF and ETF accounts is unjust towards the working population, which comprises around 20 million individuals.
The petitioners appealed to the court to declare that the fundamental rights of the working populace would be infringed upon if the loans acquired from the relevant funds were curtailed during the local debt restructuring proceedings.
They also requested an interim court order to prevent such action from being taken.
The petition filed in June named 46 respondents including the governor of the Central Bank, the secretary to the Ministry of Finance and officials of the EPF and ETF.
