Confusion reigns in House over procedural error | Daily News

Confusion reigns in House over procedural error

Confusion reigned in Parliament Thursday morning over a procedural error over passing of several orders moved by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake on Wednesday.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had to call for a Party Leaders’ Meeting suspending the sittings abruptly for 10 minutes at 10.45 am to sort out the issue following protests by Joint Opposition MPs.

Parliament on Wednesday took up for debate Land (Restrictions on Alienation) (Amendment) Bill, Resolution under the Customs Ordinance, Order under the Special Commodity Levy Act, and Notification under the Excise Ordinance. However, at the end of debate only Land (Restrictions on Alienation) (Amendment) Bill was passed missing the other three items on the order paper.

The Speaker admitting the procedural error requested the approval of the House to pass the other three items on the Order Paper, but the Joint Opposition MPs faced off stating it was against Parliamentary tradition.

“Minutes of Parliament cannot be reversed. What you can do is to announce the mistake and take them up on another date,” MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena said.

Speaker Jayasuriya and Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella pointed out that similar instances had been there in the past, adding that there was nothing wrong in passing them later. As the argument was dragging on, the Speaker was forced to call for a Party Leaders’ Meeting suspending the sittings to resolve the matter.

As the House resumed, the Speaker regretted the error and said the Standing Orders provide to pass the Orders next day. At this point, the JO came up with another argument over a technicality in the Gazette, but the Speaker cast it off and ruled that the gazette was properly presented.

Accordingly, the Resolution under the Customs Ordinance, Order under the Special Commodity Levy Act, and Notification under the Excise Ordinance were passed in Parliament on Thursday.


Add new comment