Increase in fines is illegal!

Dec 05, 2016

The fines imposed from the budget on traffic law violations are illegal, reports say. Several veterans in the legal field told us that the finance minister had considered the proposing of new taxes and imposing fines to be the same. However, it will be a violation of the constitution if a fine is imposed in the same manner a tax is imposed, they said.

Explaining further, they said the constitution does not prevent the introducing of new taxes and enforcing same with immediate effect, without waiting until they had been made part of the law. The imposition of a fine could be proposed through a budget. However, if that fine is to be implemented, an act of parliament should necessarily be introduced first. Also, that fine becomes law only after parliament passes it and the speaker signs the approved document. The constitution does not provide for the backdated imposition of a fine. That is clearly mentioned in 13-06 clause of paragraph 111 on fundamental rights in the constitution, that a punishment for an offence should not exceed the punishment spelt out by the law at the time the offence was committed, they noted. Ruling party MP, president’s counsel, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne too, referred to this recently. “When the finance minister said the fines will be increased, everybody knew that to implement it, an act is needed. That is not so for taxes. For taxes, laws can be introduced later, to become effective backdated. If fines or prison terms are increased, that can be implemented only from the day the amended or the new law is passed and the speaker certified it,” he said.

 

Veterans in the legal field said further that the finance minister introduced through budget 2016, without considering the long term implications, an amendment to the Value Added Tax (VAT), and the Supreme Court subsequently ruled to annul it, as that was not in line with the provisions in clause 152 of the constitution and the parliamentary standing order 133. The issue did not aggravate into a clash between the legislature and the judiciary due to the balance of power prevailing at the time. They added that the finance minister should act more responsibly in such sensitive matters.