Opposition raises point of order about constitutionality of Appropriation Bill

Parliament erupted on Saturday (17) after UNP MP Eran Wickremaratne raised a point of order when Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa called for a vote on the Budget.

Raising the point of order, Wickremaratne said that before he voted, he would like to know what changes the Government was proposing to the Appropriation Bill, clauses of which the Supreme Court had deemed unconstitutional according to the court’s ruling announced to Parliament on 6 November.

The Government’s Appropriation Bill was challenged in the Supreme Court and the Court held that the certain clauses of the Bill contravened Article 148 of the Constitution which guarantees Parliament has full control over public finances.

Wickremaratne’s assertion met with stiff resistance from the Government benches with Leader of the House Nimal Siripala De Silva and Government Whip Dinesh Gunewardane shouting back but he staunchly supported by UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunge and MPs Ajith Perera and Mangala Samaraweera.

Wickremesinghe urged the House to refrain from voting for a Bill which contravened the fundamental law of the land. In a bid to quell the chaos atmosphere, the Speaker responded to the point of order, stating that amendments would be moved at the committee stage before proceeding with the vote.

De Silva requested a division of votes by name, prompting Opposition members to charge that they were voting against the Bill because it was unconstitutional, while saying their names. The Bill was passed with 156 in favour and 53 against, with a majority of 103 votes.

Speaking to Daily FT, Wickremaratne said that the issue had to be viewed from a bipartisan perspective since the Supreme Court had deemed sections of the Bill contravened the Constitution. “Supposing I wanted to vote for the Bill, even as an Opposition MP, I could not justifiably do that because it would be a case of violating the constitution,” he said. (DB)