Wiggie gets formal appointment

Wednesday, 2 October 2013 01:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

No decision on who will administer oath yet, says Justice Wigneswaran
Governor Chandrasiri says oath-taking specified under Article 154
Senior Lawyer says relevant Constitutional section does not specify who must administer oath to provincial ministers

By Dharisha Bastians Northern Province Chief Minister designate Justice C.V. Wigneswaran was formally appointed by the Provincial Governor and retired Major General G.A. Chandrasiri last morning, even as questions and confrontation loomed over the new Chief Minister’s oath taking ceremony. “I have accepted the appointment letter from the Governor and the next step is to take oaths, but there is still no decision as to who I will take oaths before,” Justice Wignesawaran told reporters in Jaffna yesterday after accepting his letter at the Governor’s Office. “It is my responsibility to make the official appointment of Chief Minister and so this morning I have done that,” Governor Chandrasiri told the Daily FT.

The TNA has invited President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Jaffna to administer the oath of office to Justice Wignes-waran. The party does not want its Chief Minister to be sworn in before the military Governor of the Province, whose removal the TNA called for stringently during its elections campaign in the north. According to reports, a senior Presidential aide has affirmed that President Rajapaksa was willing to attend the swearing-in ceremony but the recently-elected Chief Minister would have to take oaths before the Northern Province Governor according to the Constitution. With regard to the oath-taking ceremony the Governor said Article 154 of the Constitution was clear on the issue. But speaking to the Daily FT, a senior President’s Counsel who declined to be named said no Constitutional provision explicitly lays out a specific person before whom provincial chief ministers and provincial councillors must be sworn in. Neither Article 154F (7) of the Constitution that deals with the Chief Ministers’ oath of office nor Section 4 of the Provincial Councils Act that sets out the oath taking requirement, mentions the person before whom the oaths must be administered, the lawyer said. In contrast in the case of a Chief Justice, Supreme Court or Court of Appeals Judge, oaths must be taken before the President under Article 107 (4) of the Constitution, the senior lawyer told the Daily FT. Where it is not specified under the Constitution, an elected representative may take the oath of office before any Justice of the Peace, and therefore any of the 225 Members of Parliament. In the event the Presi-dent insists on Justice Wigneswaran taking oaths before the Governor in his presence, the Chief Minister designate will likely decide to be sworn in before TNA Leader R. Sampanthan, TNA sources told the Daily FT.