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| Wednesday, 19 December 2001 |
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The new Minister of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy Investment Promotion Prof.G.L. Peiris, academic, Rhodes Scholar, author, university pedagogue, entered the national political arena through the PA National List in 1994 as a part of a programme to infuse academics and the intelligentsia into the Cabinet of Ministers. He was appointed as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Deputy Minister of Finance under the first Government of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1994. He was also given the portfolio of External Trade at the start. In a subsequent Cabinet reshuffle, he was given two additional portfolios- Ethnic Affairs and National Integration - which were hitherto held by the President. During his tenure as Justice Minister, he brought in over 30 pieces of new legislation which were considered innovative and in accordance with the needs of modern times. Significantly, many of them were passed without division. The most conspicuous among them were the Bill for the Permanent Commission for the Prevention of Bribery and Commission and the National Child Protection Authority Bill. As Minister of Constitutional Affairs, he played a major role in the new Draft Constitution and its proposed implementation. He chaired a record 77 meetings of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Affairs. As Deputy Minister of Finance, he presented five national budgets in Parliament from 1995 to 1999. He led numerous delegations to the World Bank and the IMF and also to the Asian Development Bank. Prof. Peiris, was Professor of Law, Dean of the Faculty of Law and later Vice Chancellor of the University of Colombo before he took to politics. A notable feature of his brilliant academic career is that he has emerged as the only academic today in this half of the world, who has Fellowships of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London. He was a Rhodes Scholar of the University of Oxford ( 1968-1971) and All Souls College also of the University of Oxford in 1980-1981. He was a visiting fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London in 1984, distinguished Visiting Fellow of Christ College, University of Cambridge and SMUTS Visiting Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the Cambridge University (1985-1986). He was also Associate member of the International Academy of Comparative Law in 1980 and Senior British Council Fellow in 1987. He was also awarded the Presidential Honour 'Vidya Jothi' for exceptional scientific achievement involving original research. Prof. Peiris was set for exceptional achievements in a effulgent legal career at the University of Colombo where he was placed first in the preliminary examination for admission to the Faculty of Arts, Law and Oriental Studies. He was also awarded the Gate Mudliyar Prize for Law. He was awarded the Bachelor of Laws Degree with First Class Honours in 1967. He read for his Doctorate in Philosophy from both the Universities of Oxford (1971) and Colombo (1974) and had completed both Doctorates by the relatively young age of 28. Respected law journals in UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Caribbean, Switzerland and Malaysia have published his articles. He has had assignments in the United Nations, UK, USA, USSR, China, India and South Africa. He served as a member of the Law Commission of Sri Lanka and also as Chairman, Janasaviya Trust Fund. He was also a member of the Presidential Commission on Youth, Member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, National Education Commission, member of the Academic Council, Institute for Fundamental Studies and a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property. A distinguished product of S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, he was a prolific prize winner at college. He was also a winner of the most coveted award that any Thomian could aspire to win- the Victoria Gold Medal which he won in 1964. |
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