By Ceylon Signal 
Colombo, 23 August — The Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) has accused the government of using the proposed 22nd Constitutional Amendment to clear the path for a wide‑ranging neoliberal restructuring of the state, alleging that the move has little connection to reducing judicial delays.
Speaking to journalists after a seminar at Wijerama Mawatha, FSP Education Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda said the government’s justification for raising the retirement age of Supreme Court judges was “baseless”, arguing that case delays stem overwhelmingly from congestion in lower courts.
Jayagoda noted that corruption and fraud cases are heard in Magistrates’ Courts and High Courts, not the Supreme Court. “Ninety‑nine percent of outstanding cases are before those courts. If delays are to be prevented, capacity must be increased there. Every other measure can be done through the Judicial Service Act. Only the retirement age requires a constitutional amendment,” he said.
He alleged that the amendment is part of a broader programme to restructure labour, agriculture, fisheries, education, and public services. According to Jayagoda, the government is preparing a Single Labour Law that would “abolish hard‑won labour rights”, while also seeking legal changes enabling “wealthy tycoons and profiteers” to influence the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).
He further claimed that plans are underway to vest agricultural lands in corporations, privatise the Paddy Marketing Board, and replace farmer cooperatives with farmer companies. In the fisheries sector, he warned that a new Fisheries Act would divide the ocean into plots and lease fish‑rich areas to multinational companies, sidelining local fishermen.
Jayagoda also alleged that a Quality Assurance and Accreditation Commission Act would legitimise “degree mills”, while the closure of 3,000 schools would undermine children’s right to education. He listed additional concerns including privatisation of hospital laboratory services, sale of state institutions, new repressive laws such as the proposed Protection of the State from Terrorism Act (PSTA), and a Cooperatives Act that he said would “snatch away people’s funds”.
“The true objective of this constitutional amendment is to take arbitrary power into the hands of the executive to execute this entire programme,” Jayagoda said.