Parliament will take up a full-day debate on the Constitutional Council (CC) next Thursday amidst simmering political tensions over the appointments of individuals to high rank posts and judges to the superior courts.
The Adjournment Motion in this regard will be moved by the UPFA.
The 10-member apex decision making body headed by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has come under a lot of criticism lately by President Maithripala Sirisena, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, MP Wimal Weerawansa and other UPFA MPs.
The appointment of the President of the Court of Appeal has entered a stalemate as President Maithripala Sirisena’s nomination of Justice Deepali Wijesundara has been twice rejected by the CC and the President has not sent any new nomination for the post after that.
President Sirisena in his speech in Parliament early this month criticized the CC stating that about 12 nominations he sent for the post of superior court judges had been rejected by the CC. However, the Speaker rejected the President’s accusation the following day while making a clarification on the selection process adhered by the CC.
Speaker Jayasuriya, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa are ex-officio members of the CC, while Justice Minister Thalatha Athukorala, UPFA MP Mahinda Samarasinghe, former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa and JVP MP Bimal Rathnayake are other political representatives in it. Former Speaker Rajapaksa sent his resignation from the CC last month, but the President has not yet accepted it. Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, Ahmad Javid Yusuf and Naganathan Selvakkumaran are the three civil society representatives of the CC.
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