Supreme Court Judge Priyantha Jayawardena announced that he will withdraw from a petition challenging the legality of the national government, citing personal reasons.

This announcement was made when the petition was taken up for hearing yesterday.

Chisf Justice K. Sripavan and Judge Prasanna Jayawardena are the other two judges in the bench.

A Fundamental Rights petition was filed with the Supreme Court on April 1, seeking an order declaring the government purportedly formed after the August 17, 2015 election is not a national government.

The petition was filed by Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara and Prof Wimaladharma Abeywickrama on behalf of the 'Joint Opposition'.

The petitioners argue that according to the constitution, a national government should be formed by the largest party or independent group in Parliament and other parties.

However, the national government was formed by only the UNP and the SLFP and others parties are not represented. Therefore it is not a national government, the petitioners argue.

They also point out that the Cabinet should be limited to 30 members and could be increased only in the case of a national government. However, since the government is not a national government, the appointment of the cabinet is also illegal, the petitioners argue.