Chief Justice Sarath N Silva said last week in the wake of a Supreme Court (SC) order that petrol price be reduced to Rs. 100.00, the judiciary remained above politics. One has no difficulty in agreeing with him. For, all the political parties have been at the receiving end of the Supreme Court judgments in the past so many years.

Although last week's SC ruling on the petrol price was devoid of politics, it has led to a political battle. Some vociferous UNP MPs are demanding the government's compliance with the SC order forthwith. Curiously, the UNP, which staged street protests-including its famous 'toot-toot campaign'-to force the government to bring down fuel prices in spite of escalating world oil prices a few months ago, is fighting shy of public protests at a time the oil prices have plummeted in the world market. The UNP leadership has not yet made known its stand on the issue.

The JVP has given the government a choice between implementing the SC ruling and facing an unceasing wave of street protests. This is an attempt to upstage the UNP, settle old political scores with the government and gain some mileage in view of the PC polls due in a few weeks. The JVP has to work hard and regain the lost ground if it is to avoid another electoral disaster.

The government has sought to summarily dismiss the Opposition campaign as an attempt to deprive the state of revenue so as to derail the war effort. Nothing could be more ludicrous than this skewed logic. Has the government taken the discerning public for a bunch of fools? The SC order has come as a blessing for the people who are struggling to meet ends meet. They are desperate for solutions to their burning problems. So, the government by refusing to reduce petrol prices is incurring the wrath of the irate public no end. Its predicament has been aggravated by the Lanka Indian Oil Company's decision to sell petrol at Rs. 100.00 per litre in keeping with the SC order.

When The Island contacted Laugfs Chairman W. K. H. Wegapitiya yesterday afternoon to know why he, in spite of being one of the petitioners who moved the SC against the CPC hedging deal, was still selling petrol at Rs. 122.00 per litre at Laugfs outlets in contravention of the SC order, said he was only a CPC dealer and had to sell petrol at the prices determined by the CPC. But, when we pointed out that the sale of petrol at Rs. 122.00 amounted to non compliance whereas that the LIOC had adopted the price prescribed by the SC, Wegapitiya finally agreed with us and undertook to seriously consider reducing the petrol price to Rs. 100.00 even at a huge loss. If he carries out his promise, the government will be landed in a worse plight in that the public anger will now be totally directed towards it.

It is intriguing why the Cabinet has not had an emergency meeting to thrash out the petroleum issue even after the SC officially conveyed its ruling to the government. Why on earth should the Cabinet take so long to meet while the country is on fire? Whether the government has valid reasons to refrain from implementing the SC order or what their legal implications will be we don't know. We will know the government's official position only after the Cabinet announces its decision. All that we are aware is that the government is prevaricating and jealously guarding its turf by claiming that only Parliament has the power to decide on tax matters.

The government is sure to lose a great deal of revenue in case of a petrol price reduction. But, on no grounds can it justify its claim that there is a sinister attempt to deprive it of funds so that it will not be able to fight the war. Not even the full-blooded government supporters will buy that cock-and-bull argument as everybody knows that the government is only reaping the dividends for appointing blockheads as heads of key state ventures.

The current issue would not have arisen if the government had appointed a qualified person as Chairman of the CPC. The appointment of Asantha de Mel to head the CPC proved to be a disaster. He was a total misfit and the government must take the full responsibility for all the blunders he made and the crooked deals that allegedly took place under his watch. The Bribery Commission probe into them, if properly conducted, will certainly open a can of worms for the government.

The questionable CPC hedging deal done at de Mel's behest cost the country billions of rupees. So, cynics may ask whether the government tried to scuttle its own war effort by appointing him as CPC Chairman. The government is also doing precious little to eliminate waste and corruption which cost the public purse dearly. Tax frauds have also deprived the state coffers of billions of rupees. All these funds could have been utilised for the war effort. What moral right does the government have to accuse others of depriving it of revenue in a bid to torpedo the war effort?

One has to grant that the government is prosecuting the war well and the LTTE has no way of avoiding a crushing defeat sooner or later. No one can question the government's desire to rid the country of terrorism. But, the government cannot always take cover behind its successful military campaign and paint a black picture of each and every one of its critics as a terrorist sympathiser. Of course, there are LTTE supporters masquerading as ardent democrats and friends of people but there is certainly a limit to sticking the LTTE label on the detractors of the government.