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Moves to reconvene Parliament
Moves are afoot by the UNF Government to have Parliament summoned within days and the Budget presented as originally scheduled on Wednesday (Nov. 12), senior Government sources told The Sunday Times last night.

Tomorrow, UNF leaders are to meet Speaker Joseph Michael Perera and present him a motion asking him to summon Parliament claiming that this was the first time in Parliament's history that it has been prorogued (suspended) without the consent of the majority of the House.

Legal experts of the UNF were studying the Standing Orders (House Rules) to see how they can get Parliament summoned by the Speaker in the face of a Presidential decree in what would turn out to be another round of Executive vs.

egislature clashes in the current cohabitation arrangement of Sri Lankan politics.
The moves come in the wake of President Chandrika Kumaratunga sacking three cabinet ministers -- Tilak Marapana (Defence), John Amaratunga (Interior) and Imtiaz Bakeer-Markar (Mass Communication) -- and two secretaries and the UNF Government wanting these portfolios back from President Kumaratunga.

Alternative method to impeach CJ
Having had an impeachment motion against Chief Justice Sarath Silva backfire because of its awkward sense of timing, the UNF Government is now expected to pursue the motion, but this time have foreign judges probe the misconduct of the country's top judge.

The Government is set to amend the Standing Orders of Parliament and the Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act to change the modus by which Parliament in future inquire into "proved misbehaviour" of a judge.

Accordingly, these new laws will ensure that once 75 MPs sign a petition calling for the impeachment of a judge, the Speaker shall constitute a Select Committee to go into the matter as at present.

Thereafter, if the allegation is that of violation of the Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act, the select committee will study the matter, but if it is a graver issue involving the misconduct of a judge, the select committee will invite three to five judges, possibly from the Commonwealth countries to probe the allegations and make their findings known to the committee.

If the charges are proved, the committee will draft a motion and send it back to the House for approval. This method will dispense with the present practice of MPs probing judges, sources said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is learnt to have already discussed this matter with a leading legal luminary, Faiz Musthapa, SriLanka's High Commissioner in London and requested him to take the matter up with the Commonwealth Secretariat.

UNF sources said that party leaders and the Bar Association would be consulted before implementing these changes, but that the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice now with the Speaker will not be withdrawn.

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