Lilanthi De Silva v. Attorney General and Others – sllr 2000 volume 3 page 155

In the case between Lilanthi De Silva (Petitioner) and the Attorney-General and Others (Respondents), the court addressed the issue of whether Regulation 6 of the Emergency (Restriction on Consumption of Electricity) Regulations No. 1/2000 constituted an arbitrary and unreasonable restriction infringing Article 12(1) of the Constitution. It was determined that the regulation, by imposing a uniform 20% reduction in electricity consumption on all users and applying an additional surcharge for non-compliance, failed to account for the unequal circumstances of different consumers. This uniform treatment resulted in arbitrariness and an infringement of the petitioner’s right to equality, rendering the regulation ultra vires. The court reaffirmed the principle that equality before the law necess