Punishments under the Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance in Sri Lanka: Adequate to Fight a Pandemic?

Abstract

The society needs more laws to protect the people from COVID-19. Recently, the increasing number of people who are violating the quarantine laws in Sri Lanka due to the insufficient punishments that comes under the Quarantine and Prevention Disease Ordinance No.03 of 1897. In this situation, the national security fails to punish people because the legislature has not given sufficient attention to this matter. In this research it is expected to understand how the current legislature has supported in punishing the general public who violated quarantine laws in the current context of Sri Lanka. Further, in this research it is expected to address the research problem of, whether the prevention measures should help national growth and the security through the provisions of punishments under Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance in Sri Lanka is enough in expected level. This research is mainly based on both primary and secondary data. By analyzing those data, it defines the issueswithregardtotheOrdinance and recommendations and conclusion will provide solutionforpunishmentsregardingthe quarantine laws. So it will be better to re-enact quarantine laws which should be suitable for the present and future time period in Sri Lanka.