Speaker to appoint nominee to Parliamentary Council if UNP fails

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2010, 05:00 GMT]
The Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament will be entrusted with the powers to appoint the relevant representative to the parliamentary council if the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe fails to appoint a member within next week. Ranil Wickremasinghe Thursday nominated Tamil national Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian M. A Sumanthiran as his nominee to the Parliamentary Council but the TNA MP rejected the nomination. Since then Ranil Wickremasinghe has not nominated a new person, SL parliament sources said.

Responding to the rejection, the Opposition Leader has said that he would continue appointing members to the PC to checkmate the government and make it difficult for the Parliamentary Council to function.

Speaker has the power to appoint a member to the Parliamentary Council established under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, if the Opposition Leader fails to execute his responsibility, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Saturday.

Meanwhile, the government has said it plans to establish all commissions set up under the 18th Amendment to Constitution from 1st January next year.