The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law – Minister of Justice and National Integration
Clarified that no single counsel should be described exclusively as the party’s lawyer, as many lawyers assist the party. Responding to an inference about 2026 figures, he said leave-refusal data should be viewed historically, noting that 2025 recorded the lowest refusals after the Government took office in November 2024, while earlier years were higher. He added that fewer fundamental rights filings could indicate fewer violations by the Executive and State bodies, and cautioned that 2026 trends may change as eight months remain and the JSC compiled the figures only last month.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Two clarifications. First, many lawyers assist our party; it is inaccurate to call any specific counsel “our party’s lawyer” in an exclusive sense. Second, regarding your inference from 2026 numbers: please note the historic data on leave refusals. The lowest number of refusals is in 2025 (59), after our Government took office in November 2024; earlier years under previous administrations saw higher figures. A lower number of FR filings can also mean fewer violations by the Executive and State bodies—which is positive. The JSC compiled these figures last month; eight months remain in 2026 and trends may change.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 22 May 2026 ·No. 23666 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law – Minister of Justice and National Integration. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 May 2026. No. 23666. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/16995