Plaint withdrawn

SANDASEN MARASINGHE

Colombo District Judge Sampath Wijeratne yesterday allowed UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya to withdraw the plaint he filed against UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake challenging the legality of his show cause letter for not taking disciplinary action against Karu Jayasuriya for the formation of the UNP-D group and joining the UPFA government.

The Court allowed to withdraw the plaint after considering the motion filed by plaintiff Karu Jayasuriya who pleaded to withdraw the plaint as Tissa Attanayake informed him that the show cause letter was not applicable any longer to him.

Colombo District Court had issued an enjoining order on August 31, 2007 restraining the United National Party General Secretary Tissa Attanayake from activating the letter dated June 13, 2007 sent by him which asked the 17 UNPers who joined the Government to show cause for their action. The order has been extended by the Court since then.

The 17 plaintiffs in their 17 separate plaints pleaded that they joined the Government after the UNP and SLFP signed a Memorandum of Understanding on October 23, 2006. Tissa Attanayake sent each of them a letter asking them to show cause for doing so.

The plaintiffs challenged that the AGM at which Tissa Attanayake was elected as the General Secretary on November 19, 2006 was illegal and was contrary to the UNP party Constitution.