Sampanthan to Constitutional Council

• TNA MP fills vacancy created by UPFA MP Chamal Rajapaksa’s resignation
• Office for Reparations headed by Dhara Wijethilake fully operational
• CC to meet in April to decide on new Chief Justice and Auditor General

The Constitutional Council has decided to appoint Illankai Tamil Arasu Kacchi (ITAK) MP Rajavarothiam Sampanthan to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) lawmaker Chamal Rajapaksa.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who is the CC Chairman, informed its members of this decision at a meeting held to brief members of the progress made at the meeting held with National Police Commission Chairman K.W. Ekanayake Karalliyadda and other commissioners.

The Speaker also informed that the Office for Reparations, headed by Dhara Wijethilake, has started functioning in its full capacity.

The Constitutional Council is to meet again in April to nominate suitable persons for the posts of Chief Justice and the Auditor General, both of which will soon fall vacant.

The Constitutional Council was first established in 2000 under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. In 2010 President Mahinda Rajapaksa established the Parliamentary Council, under the 18th Amendment, to replace the Constitutional Council. After Maithripala Sirisena was elected President, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented the new reforms to reinstate a new Constitutional Council in 2015 under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

The independent Commissions were established under the Constitutional Council, fulfilling one of the major promises of the United National Party-led Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena during the 2015 presidential election. (AH)