Constitutional Assembly successfully holds third sitting

The third sitting of the Constitutional Assembly was held on 19 November at 9.00 a.m. in the Chamber of Parliament, and was presided over by Karu Jayasuriya, the Chairman of the Constitutional Assembly.

The first interim report of the Steering Committee was presented to the Constitutional Assembly by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as Chairman of the Steering Committee. 

The report is a compilation of the six sub-committee reports on Fundamental Rights, the Judiciary, Law and Order, Public Service, Public Finance and Centre Periphery Relations. 

These reports have not as yet been considered by the Steering Committee and will be taken up for consideration together with views expressed thereon when preparing its final report to the Constitutional Assembly.

The Steering Committee is engaged in directly deliberating on core subject areas pertaining to the nature of the State, form and structure of Government, principles of devolution, religion, electoral reforms and land. The second interim report of the Steering Committee will be based on these deliberations and is to be presented to the Constitutional Assembly on 10 December 2016.

The interim reports do not constitute final decisions of the Steering Committee and the contents of both the reports are to be debated by the Constitutional Assembly. The debate is due to commence in January 2017. 

The Steering Committee will submit its final report to the Constitutional Assembly in due course encapsulating outcomes of the debate together with constitutional principles formulated by the Steering Committee.