Supreme Court concludes hearing of petitions over 19th Amendment
Tuesday, 7 April 2015 01:16
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Parliament to debate 19th Amendment on Thursday and Friday
The Supreme Court yesterday concluded considering petitions filed in connection with the 19th Constitutional Amendment.
Accordingly, Chief Justice K. Sri Pavan noticed that the respective verdict would be submitted to the President as well as the Speaker of Parliament.
The 19th Constitutional Amendment Draft Bill was presented to Parliament by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on 24 March.
Later 19 petitions were filed with regard to the new amendment. Five of them were filed for the amendment while 14 petitions were filed against it.
A panel of Supreme Court Judges led by Chief Justice K. Sri Pavan started to consider the petitions last Wednesday.
The other Supreme Court judges who sat on the panel were Chandra Ekanayake and Priyasad Depp.
While presenting his submissions, the Attorney General told the court that the 19th Amendment could be passed with a two-thirds majority in Parliament without calling for a referendum.
At that point, the Chief Justice said that in the 19th Amendment the President is depicted as the symbol of national unity.
Therefore, the Chief Justice said as the national flag is currently depicted as the symbol of national unity, replacing such a position with the President is disputable.
The Chief Justice further questioned whether it curtailed the power of the President after the Prime Minister was named as the head of the Cabinet.
Thereafter the Attorney General informed the Supreme Court that he would forward further submissions in writing to that regard.
Meanwhile, the 19th Amendment debate has been included on the parliament agenda for 9 and 10 April. The Bill to this effect was presented to Parliament on 24 March.
A special political party leaders meeting in connection with the proposed debate was presided over by Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa at the Parliament complex yesterday.
Addressing political party leaders, Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa said that he would inform all political leaders whether the debate would be held on Wednesday and Thursday only after he received the Supreme Court’s decision with regard to the debate.
Meanwhile, MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardana said during the political party leaders’ meeting that the Attorney General had submitted a 12-paged amendment to the Supreme Court.
He also said that the amendment submitted by the Attorney General was contradictory to that of the 19th Amendment presented to Parliament recently by the Prime Minister.
He had then pointed out that they should be provided with an opportunity to express their views in Parliament.
Former Minister G.L. Peries has also presented details in this regard and Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva, former ministers Tissa Vitharana, D.E.W. Gunasekera and W.D.J. Seneviratne have also supported Professor Peries’ reasoning.
However, Chief Government Whip and Minister Lakshman Kiriella said participants of the political party leaders’ meeting agreed to pass the 19th Amendment after it is debated on 9 and 10 April.
