News
Severely understaffed LD Department constrained to draw and re-draw Bills
The State Land (Special Provisions) Bill, which the Government withdrew from Parliament this week, was sent back to the Legal Draftsman’s (LD) Department a total of 22 times before a final draft was deemed suitable for Cabinet approval.
But the Government was forced to retract the bill after having it listed in the Parliamentary order paper before first sending it to each of the provincial councils for an opinion.
The Constitution deems that no bill in respect of any matter set out in the provincial council list (including land and land settlement) shall become law unless it has been referred by the President, after being gazetted and before it is placed on the order paper in Parliament, to every provincial council for the expression of its views thereon.
Had it been enacted, the legislation would have granted legal ownership to those who had been living on State lands for more than ten years. This would have allowed them to sell or transfer ownership, to obtain facilities such as bank loans and use the deed as a valid document for school admissions.
The LD Department is severely understaffed at all levels, according to its 2018 annual performance report released this week. However, it is constrained to draw and re-draw bills sent to it by the Government multiple times.
This includes proposed legislation to set up a “land bank” in Sri Lanka which was referred to the Department no less than 26 times last year. It envisages transferring all State lands which are now under the purview of different bodies to a common institution so that they could be given out for development as and when necessary.
The Land Development (Amendment) Bill was sent to the Department 16 times; the General Sir John Kotelawela Defence Academy (Amendment) Bill, 14 times; the Voluntary Social Service (Registration and Supervision) (Amendment) Bill, 13 times; and the National Eye Bank Bill, 14 times.
Even requests that have been attended to and completed by the LD Department and sent out as final drafts are often returned with fresh instructions for further amendments “mainly because the instructing agencies keep changing the policy”, the performance report states.
When such requests are received, “irrespective of it being earlier finalised, this Department has to attend to it, dedicating the same time and attention given to a fresh request.” Demands for amendments to completed laws are conveyed after the final draft is sent out in all three languages. And, sometimes, the procedure is repeated a number of times.
Last year, 12 draft principal or amending legislations where thus fully translated but sent back by the respective public institutions for further amendment. A further 19 subordinate legislations were similarly affected.
Complicating the situation are staff shortages, including translators. While the total approved cadre of the LD Department is 148, the number of employees is only 98—a shortfall of 50. At senior level, there are 13 vacancies, at tertiary level (where translators fit in) there are 15 slots to be filled and, at secondary level, there are 14. The number of vacancies at primary level is eight.