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The President has rejected allegations that she had objected to the Land Ownership Act owing to her not agreeing to deeds being authenticated with the Land Minister's signature.

The President's Office declared that this was a complete distortion of facts,in a bid to issue a complex issues into mere signatures.Presidential Media spokesman Janadasa Peiris in a release states that this was not a question of signatures but a constitutional issue.

The President objected to it on two grounds. Firstly, every Constitution promulgated since independence upheld the right of the Head of the State to alienate state lands. That means the trust of state lands statutorily devolves upon the Head of State, the release adds.

Delegation of this absolute right to the Land Commissioner or to any other authority is therefore unacceptable. Even in terms of the 13th amendment to the Constitution, land ownership is vested in the Republic, and the alienation or disposition of such land within a province shall be effected by the President on the advise of provincial Council concerned. However, the proposed legislation aims to keep both the President and the provincial councils out of the issue.

Nevertheless, President has agreed to alienation of land on a simplified procedure. She is prepared to discuss any provision to alienate land only if it does not contravene the provision of the 13th amendment to the constitution. She objected to the minister's proposal for the reason that it aimed to take away the powers vested in the President, without any amendments to the Constitution, the release states.

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