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House to debate new Constitution’s Interim Report from Oct.30-Nov.1
View(s):Parliament will debate in late October, the Interim Report (IR) of the Steering Committee (SC) appointed to formulate proposals for a new Constitution, which was submitted by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe when the Constitutional Assembly (CA) met in mid-September. The dates for the debate have been fixed for Oct.30, 31 and Nov.1, the Sunday Times learns. Parliament will meet as the CA for the debate sitting from 10.30 am to 6.30 pm on all three days.
The Premier who heads the SC said, when presenting the IR, that it was not the final document, but one that would be discussed in Parliament and one on which there must be consensus of the general public. Prior to the presentation of the SC’s IR, the Reports of six Sub Committees and another report by an ad-hoc Committee appointed by the SC, were tabled before the CA on Nov.19 and Dec.10, 2016, respectively.
The SC’s IR deals with the remaining six subjects not assigned to any Sub Committee, and contains principles and formulations that reflect the deliberations of the SC of the CA that met 73 times between April 2016 and September 2017. Among the matters contained in the IR is the thorny subject of how the country should be known as, be it “Unitary” or “United”.
“The classical definition of the English term ‘Unitary State’ has undergone change. In the United Kingdom, it is now possible for Northern Ireland and Scotland to move away from the Union. Therefore, the English term ‘Unitary State’ will not be appropriate for Sri Lanka. The Sinhala term ‘aekiya raajyaya’ best describes an undivided and indivisible country. The Tamil language equivalent of this is ‘orumiththa nadu.’ In these circumstances, the following formulation may be considered: Sri Lanka [Ceylon] is a free, sovereign and independent republic which is an aekeiya rajyaya/orumiththa nadu, means a State which is undivided and indivisible, and in which the power to amend the Constitution or, to repeal and replace the Constitution, shall remain within the Parliament and people of Sri Lanka, as provided in this Constitution,” the IR states.
The proposals put forward to the SC by various political parties too, are contained in the IR.