A Fundamental Rights petition filed by women activists and organizations was settled before the Supreme Court after a new gazette notification lifted longstanding restrictions on women in Sri Lanka’s alcohol industry.
The new gazette now allows women to legally purchase liquor from licensed outlets, work in liquor production establishments, and consume alcohol at retail premises—rights previously denied under an earlier regulation.
Following the issuance of the updated gazette, the petitioners informed the Supreme Court they would not proceed with the case, leading to its dismissal.
The Supreme Court’s three-judge bench—Justices S. Thurairaja, Mahinda Samayawardhena, and Menaka Wijesundera—formally dismissed the petition, as the legal basis for it no longer existed.
Originally filed in 2018, the petition challenged Gazette Extraordinary No. 2054-42, which restricted women’s right to be employed in or associated with the alcohol industry, citing it as unconstitutional gender discrimination.
Leave to proceed with the petition had been granted in terms of Articles 12(1), 12(2), and 14(1)(g) of the Constitution, which protect equality before the law and freedom to engage in lawful occupations.
Petitioners included Women & Media Collective, CENWOR, Professor Camena Guneratne, and 14 others, who named the then-Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, the Finance Ministry Secretary, and Cabinet members as respondents.
The petition argued that the 2018 regulation amounted to gender-based discrimination, violating the constitutional rights of adult women to equality and equal protection of the law.
Senior lawyer Sanjeewa Jayawardena, PC, appeared for the petitioners, along with Dilumi de Alwis and Prashanthi Mahindaratne, while Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena represented the Attorney General.
The court’s dismissal of the petition marks a significant legal victory for women’s rights in Sri Lanka, ensuring gender equality in access to employment and services within the alcohol industry.
