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| Thursday, 7 March 2002 |
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by our Parliament correspondent Minister Professor G. L. Peiris yesterday told Parliament that the Government was awaiting the appointment of the presidential nominee to the constitutional council and also for the President's approval of the nine members already appointed. "The ball is in the President's court. The moment she finalises this the Constitutional Council will be in place," Prof. Peiris said while introducing three Bills to the House for the express purpose of strengthening the 17th Amendment. One of the Bills provide for the appointment of a competent authority for the SLBC and SLRC during an election campaign. This was in order to ensure that these institutions comply with the directives of the Election Commissioner. Failure to comply after such directives had been issued by the Commissioner would now give him powers to appoint a competent authority to these institutions for the duration of the elections. Prof. Peiris recalled his own bitter experience during the last General Election campaign where repeated requests by him and also the Commissioner of Elections to the state media to carry corrections of defamatory statements against him fell on deaf ears. "The state media (SLBC/SLRC) would now have to toe the line following the powers now vested with the Commissioner under the new law he stated. The Bill is titled Competent Authority (Powers and Functions) Bill. Two other Bills, Removal of Officers (Procedure) Bill and Administrative Appeals Tribunal Bill was also introduced and debated in the House. Prof. Peiris stated that the new legislation was primarily aimed at strengthening the 17th Amendment to ensure its full authority runs on the ground. It also opens the phase of depoliticisation of the public service and the police, he said. |
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