Bill to appoint Chief of Defence Staff

Uditha Kumarasinghe and Irangika Range

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake yesterday presented a Bill to Parliament to appoint a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who shall be responsible for the coordination of activities between the Armed Forces and the Defence Ministry and for the establishment of the Committee of the CDS.

The President will appoint the CDS from among the persons presently serving as the Army Commander, the Navy Commander or the Air Force Commander as the case may be, the Bill said.

The CDS shall function under the direction, supervision and control of the Defence Ministry Secretary. When an officer of the Force appointed as the CDS, he shall relinquish his current position, but he would continue to be a member of the regular force of the service to which he belonged.

The CDS shall, hold office for a term of two years. An officer serving as the CDS shall be eligible to be re-appointed for one more term of two years, provided that in a time of emergency, the President may re-appoint the officer serving as the CDS for any number of such terms of office.

The CDS may be removed at any time by the President taking into consideration issues of national security, without assigning reasons, the Bill says.