The Sri Lankan government, which has reduced to a parliamentary minority, was given a booste Friday with the country's highest court ruling an expulsion of three dissidents by an opposition party illegal.

Three legislators from the opposition Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) joined the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga last year to support her on her peace moves.

The SLMC promptly sacked them, annulling their parliamentary seats, but the dissidents went to file action in the Supreme Court.

They sought an order from the court enabling them to continue as legislators.

The court in its ruling said that the SLMC had failed to follow the proper disciplinary procedures in sacking them.

Kumaratunga's government lost 39 of its 119 seats in the parliament when the main ally, the leftist JVP or the People's Liberation Front, walked out on June 16 over the dispute involving the joint aid deal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

Source: Xinhua