THE PSC IT IS

Constitutional change could only be made through Select Committee process, states a presidential press release. That's final then -- there will be no authoritarian thrust in constitutional engineering in this country.

If the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) decides on change, theirs is a decision that can override that of the Executive on matters of constitutional amendments. That's democratic process.

The 13th Amendment is an issue on which there has been inordinate focus, in recent times. This public discourse is good. In an ongoing debate for instance with another notable on the need for Provincial Councils -- that were the creature of the 13th Amendment - Professor G. H. Peiris states that the geography of the country is not conducive to federating, considering that all significant federal states are large.

He also states that if ethnicity was a denominator for determining the unit of devolution, then the district would be a better unit than the province - since bar a few, most provinces in Sri Lanka are multi-ethnic and are never ethnically homogeneous.

He also states categorically that devolution in this country is a home-grown concept, asserting quite correctly that Bandaranaike and his effort with the BC pact had many opposers and very little takers in his time. In sum, the BC pact was akin to an academic effort between two individual leaders.

There will no doubt be counter arguments in the debate, and other points of view. It appears unless somebody can show otherwise convincingly however, that G. H. Peiris is right!

But these are all however, issues that the people of this country must decide. If there is going to be any change of the status quo regarding Provincial Councils, the catalyst for such a move would be a decision made by the Parliamentary Select Committee on constitutional change.

The government has made it clear so far that no changes are being contemplated before the NPC elections. But, if the Select Committee decides the country could do with some changes, perchance, there might be a process initiated. Such a process would be complex however, and will be rigorous as it would be subject to constitutional checks and balances.

The fact that if there is such a process it will begin at the level of the PSC -- in the legislature -- is the surest signal that the Executive is but one component in the process of democracy at work. Though it could be argued that the PSC could also come under the sway of the Executive, this will be flawed as the PSC has input from a gamut of political parties that have members in Parliament.

Those MPs of parties that stay out of the process -- if any -- would have betrayed their constituents. But, the most important context in all of this is that democracy is consensual.

There can be no better consensus decision making body than the PSC, even though some parties are often seen opting out of the process for parochial reasons. What's important for now is to remember that a decision has been taken to leave constitutional change at the hands of a Select Committee which means that the contours of possible upcoming issues that deal with constitutional matters, are already known.

Any of the players involved in matters of constitutional change will be rather unwise, if they choose to disregard any PSC decision and work to their own agenda decided by a partisan few. Constitutional tinkering is best left to Parliamentary consensus and not to the diktat of one political force.

None of what's said here may be material in the coming few months. The PSC may decide that the status quo is best left as it is, and that is a likely outcome now that the Cabinet spokesman says the government has no idea to further amend the 13th Amendment. No doubt the emerging clarity on this matter will be appreciated by all, even as there is an ongoing healthy debate on the 13th.