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NGO definition stumps House Committee The newly appointed Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee for the investigation of the operations of Non-governmental Organizations (NGO) in the country, JVP MP Vijitha Herath said the Committee was not intended as a witch-hunt against voluntary organizations but was to ascertain if they were acting in a manner detrimental to the sovereignty of the country as well as engaged in violating financial and labour laws. Mr. Hearth was named Chairman of the Committee after its previous head, fellow JVP MP Nandana Gunatilleke resigned from the post last week. One factor that hampered the working of the Committee, set up last August, had been the inability to arrive at a definition of what organizations constitute an “NGO.” In Sri Lanka they were registered as voluntary originsations by the Social Services Ministry while some had registered themselves under the Companies Act and operate as companies, Mr.Herath said. “Even an Old Boys’ Association (OBA) can be called an NGO and so can a political party. So we are trying to get a proper definition on what an NGO is,” he said. The Committee comprising 29 MPs will also study the report of a similar Presidential Committee that was set up during the late President R. Premadasa’s tenure and headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Raja Wanasundera.
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