by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi and Ranil Wijayapala

The debate on the 18th amendment to the Constitution was postponed once again in the wake of several amendments proposed by the opposition UNP and SLMC while the government claimed that two such amendments were clearly outside the subject matter and therefore irrelevant.

Therefore at the tail-end of the debate on the 18th amendment which seeks to increase the number of Appeal Court Judges and to set up Appeal Courts at the provincial level, Chief Government Whip and Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle requested the Speaker to postpone the debate.

He said although the government has accepted the amendments proposed by the UNP, it seems they (the UNP) are not supporting the Government."We need a two thirds majority to pass this amendment so we request you to postpone the debate."

Chief Opposition Whip Mahinda Samarasinghe said the UNP was not against the Bill."We are not against it. We have presented our amendments. Why don't we stop the debate here and refer it to a standing committee."

Replying to this, Justice Minister W. D. J. Seneviratne said, he has accepted the UNP amendments. "But the SLMC has presented two amendments which are outside the purview of the subject matter. Those are completely outside the original amendment proposed by us."

The SLMC had wanted amendments seeking to extend the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in respect on Fundamental rights cases and cases dealing with cross overs of MPs, to the Appeal Courts.

SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem said no agreement was reached at the party leaders meeting to postpone the debate and he called for a division.

At this stage Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara rang the quorum bell to take a division.

The CWC and JHU voted with the Government to postpone the debate while UNP and SLMC voted against.

The TNA members abstained from voting. Accordingly, the debate was postponed for another day.