The Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2198/13 dated 20th October 2020 seeks to obtain the views of the people for the drafting of a new Constitution for Sri Lanka. When extended to December 31st.
An expert committee comprising President’s Counsels Manohara de Silva, Gamini Marapana, Sanjeewa Jayawardena, Samantha Ratwatte, Professors Nadeema Kamurdeen, GH Peiris, Wasantha Seneviratne, and Dr. A Surveyor has been appointed under the chairmanship of President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva.
The role of this Committee of Experts is to draft a new constitution to replace the Constitution of the Second Republic of Sri Lanka and to submit it to the Cabinet and Parliament for consideration.
* Nature of the State
* Fundamental Rights
* Language
* Principles of Direction of Public Policy
* Executive (President, Cabinet, Public Service)
* Legislature
* Elections including
Judiciary and Referendum * Judiciary
* Public Finance
* State Security
* Decentralization of Power To.
Citizens will have the opportunity to submit their suggestions on other areas not specified above.
Against this backdrop, a book containing alternative proposals for a new constitution for Sri Lanka on November 16 has been compiled by the Buddhasasana Task Force and the National Policy Planning Board of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress. Law, Governance, National Security and Foreign Policy Subcommittee.
This is the new constitutional alternative proposal that eliminates corruption, protects the national heritage and the environment, prevents corruption, protects national sovereignty and territorial integrity, protects the sovereignty of the people, and meets the inherent aspirations of all people living in Sri Lanka.
A special feature of this book is that Manohara de Silva, PC, a member of the aforesaid expert committee, was also involved in compiling this book. At present, various sections of the society are submitting public views to the expert committee.
Article 6 (d) of the Constitution of the Second Republican Constitution, 1978 states that the elected government must grant equal rights to education to all to eradicate ignorance and to transform the right to education into a fundamental right and enforce it. The Board has proposed.
The National Movement for a Just Society has informed the Committee of Experts in writing that the nature of the State of Sri Lanka, the basic structure of the state as well as the fundamental qualities that a constitution should represent such as the sovereignty and fundamental rights of the people, and their participation in the drafting of the new Constitution. That care about is extremely important.
It is very important that an institution or committee that seeks to direct the formulation of the basic law of the country in any way explains it to the country. The principles and procedures to be followed must be very clear in a legislative process.
The previous government took the initiative to draft a new constitution but it did not take long to finalize. Civil society is of the view that the detailed report submitted by the six sub-committees and the draft constitution prepared by an expert committee at the request of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Council should be taken into consideration.
What a strong democratic state need is not a leader with arbitrary statutory powers, but a leader with a broad vision and the ability to communicate. The problem in Sri Lanka is the concentration of power from the bottom to the top and from the terminal to the center.
It is very important to create a new constitution based on public opinion and to have it widely debated among the people. Accordingly, the process of drafting a constitution that everyone can agree on will be active.
