States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives

empowers Parliament to add to, alter, or revoke any emergency
regulation by resolution.
In terms of Section 7, emergency regulations and any decision,
order or rule made thereunder prevails over any other law. Part III
of the PSO provides other rules, as special powers of the President,
in matters connected with the exercise of emergency powers
including calling out the armed forces in aid of the civil power,
procedure for arrest, detention and executive review of detention,
and the suspension of certain provisions of the Code of Criminal
Procedure. As noted above, Section 8 seeks to oust judicial review
of anything done under the PSO. 284
5.1.1
Emergency
Regulations
There is a large number of emergency regulations currently in
force, dealing with a wide array of matters including terrorist
activities, special administrative arrangements, high security
zones, procurement and so on. 285 For reasons of space, relevance
and implications for the issues addressed in this book, however,
the Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers)
284
However, it was held in Siriwardena
v.
Liyanage (1983) 2 FRD 310, at
329 that Section 8 does not preclude the court from examining and ruling
upon the validity of an order made under any impugned emergency
regulation, and further, ‘where an emergency regulation empowers an
authority to make an order only if he is satisLied of the existence of certain
facts, the Court can inquire whether it was reasonable for the authority to
be satisLied of the existence of those facts. However, the evaluation of
those facts is for the authority alone and the Court will not substitute its
opinion for that of the authority.’ See Jayampathy Wickramaratne (2006)
Fundamental
 Rights
 in
 Sri
 Lanka
 (2 nd Ed.) (Colombo: Stamford Lake):
pp.124‐126
285
See index of emergency regulations currently in force, infra
181