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by Ajith Samaranayake

The ruling by the Speaker overshadowed Mr. Choksy's budget (which anyway had enjoyed a media overkill) but that was part of the order of the day (no pun being intended on the Standing Orders about the amendment of which there is now a scramble).

By any standards, the Speaker's ruling was a landmark although it will be left to posterity to judge its place in history. In the course of his ruling which upheld the supremacy of Parliament over that of the President Mr. Joseph Michael Perera ironically enough also quoted his predecessor Mr. Anura Bandaranaike who had held against the UNP (having being elected on that ticket) prompting the JVP's Wimal Weerawansa to observe that he had acted as a UNP MP rather than the Speaker.

However the Speaker in delivering his ruling did conduct himself with the gravitas befitting his high office in the midst of Opposition catcalls.

The Speaker's studied ruling which ranged far and wide over all types of Constitutions clearly called caught the opposition by surprise. More than one Opposition speaker said that the Speaker had not given even an inkling of his intentions when they met him recently.

Of course, the Speaker is not bound to do any such thing but this showed a surprising degree of naivete on the part of the Opposition at a time of political turmoil.

There had been some confusion in political circles about whether there had actually been a letter submitted to the Speaker protesting against the President's decision to prorogue Parliament.

The Opposition was under the impression that there was no such letter and had met the Speaker to ask him not to recall the House before the due date. However it was on the basis of such a Government request that the Speaker made his ruling and this was the reason for the Opposition's bewilderment.

The Speaker's ruling predictably drew fire from Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse, the Chief Opposition Whip Mangala Samaraweera and MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena who all made the point that there should be a debate on the Speaker's ruling.

On the part of the Government Chief Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe (sporting a red tie) was ready for it in due course but given the protracted budget debate this is a dim prospect immediately.

Speaker Perera's ruling brings to mind a previous ruling (although not exactly under the same circumstances) by Speaker Stanley Tillekeratne in the early 1970s against the then Government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

The parallel is that although Mr. Tillekeratne ruled against the prevailing Government while Mr. Perera has ruled in the Government's favour, in the case of Mr. Tillekeratne's ruling the then Finance Minister Dr. N. M. Perera threatened to bring about a vote of no confidence against him. This did not transpire but in the case of the present ruling too there are rumblings of discontent and the problem now can well turn out to be the co-habitation of the Speaker and the Opposition which can even eclipse the co-habitation between the President and the Government.

There was a further irony at work here. Whereas the Constitution invests supreme power in the President over all spheres of the Constitution, the Speaker rather sought to go back to the Legislature as the root of power. This was precisely the concept which the Constitution of 1972 framed by Dr. Colvin R. de Silva sought to embody, that sovereignty lay with Parliament as embodying the people's will.

While the Speaker's ruling has demarcated two centres of authority, namely the Executive and the Legislature, the more immediate question is whether it will lead to a confrontation between the Speaker and the Opposition. There is already talk among the television pundits about an amendment to Standing Orders but that is bound to run into opposition given the present circumstances. Much more germane to the issue would be a consensus between all the political parties represented in Parliament to come together as a Constituent Assembly to rebuild this fractured nation.

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