Opposition walkout ridicules Parliamentary traditions
CHAMIKARA WEERASINGHE
University academics yesterday said opposition MPs have ridiculed
Parliamentary traditions by walking out from the Parliamentary Select
Committee (PSC) appointed by the Speaker to investigate the impeachment
charges against Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake.
The academics said it was a suspicious move by opposition
parliamentarians to walk out from the PSC after they had participated in
the same committee to hear the impeachment charges.
Open University's Department of Mathematics and Engineering lecturer
Nemsiri Jayathilaka said: "The impeachment trial against Chief Justice
Dr Shirani Bandaranayake is a constitutional process and the PSC was
appointed by the Speaker of Parliament to conduct that trial."
"The act of opposition MPs stands to hamper a legitimate
Parliamentary process. Their actions are against Parliamentary
traditions," he said.
"The MPs should act to preserve the supremacy of Parliament, but they
have done just the opposite in this case," Jayathilaka said. He said
once the Speaker appoints a committee to perform a task, the committee
is expected to be agreeable.
In this case, the Opposition MPs who first obeyed the Speaker's
orders to conduct the PSC process, walked out of the PSC before the
process ended, the academics said. Jayathilaka said: " I think that
Speaker Rajapaksa has to do something about this. One must not forget
there are local and international elements trying to take advantage of
the impeachment hearing against the Chief Justice to destabilise the
country." |