Wickramasinghe v. Edmund Jayasinghe, Secretary, Ministry of Media, Tourism and Aviation – sllr 1995 volume 1 page 300

In the case between Wickramasinghe (petitioner, Chief Editor and Publisher of the “Janajaya” newspaper) and Edmund Jayasinghe, Secretary, Ministry of Media, Tourism and Aviation, the court addressed the legality of emergency regulations under Section 5 of the Public Security Ordinance, which imposed pre-censorship on news relating to military operations. The court held that no prima facie case had been made out to demonstrate that the impugned regulations were ultra vires or that they violated the petitioner’s fundamental rights under Articles 12, 14, and 15 of the Constitution. The principle reaffirmed is that, although wide discretionary power is granted to the executive during national emergencies, any encroachment on constitutionally protected rights must be strictly justified by the c