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Civil Society members of CC up for Parliamentary approval on Sept.22
View(s):The names of the three civil society members nominated to the Constitutional Council (CC) will be placed before Parliament for approval when it meets on September 22.
The three nominees Dr A.T. Ariyaratne, founder of the Sarvodaya Movement, Dr Radhika Coomaraswamy, a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, and former Attorney General Shibly Aziz.
The names of Dr Ariyaratne and Dr Coomaraswamy were among those submitted to Parliament in June this year prior to the polls, but the motion could not be passed due to disputes over the names. Retired Judge A.W.A. Salam who was the previous nominee, has been replaced by Shibly Aziz.
The ex-officio members of the CC are the Speaker, the Prime Minister (PM) and the Opposition Leader, while President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed Minister Champika Ranawaka as his nominee.
The PM’s representative in the CC is Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksha, while JVP MP Vijitha Herath will represent the minor parties in Parliament. Minister John Seneviratne is the other member of the CC.
The CC is expected to make appointments to several independent Commissions after the names of the three civil society members are approved by Parliament.
The Commissions to which members will be named are Election Commission, Public Service Commission, National Police Commission, Audit Service Commission, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Finance Commission, Delimitation Commission, National Procurement Commission, University Grants Commission and the Official Languages Commission.