APRC document out early January

Minister and All-Party Representatives Committee chairman Tissa Vitarana said a document which took into consideration the views expressed by experts’ panel members and APRC deliberations in the past five months will be presented to the committee in early January.

He said some of the proposals of the experts’ panel were likely to be contained in the report being prepared by him. The Minister said the document would be presented to the APRC and views of the members sought at the meeting.

Meanwhile, uncertainty hangs over the experts’ panel itself as its members dispersed abruptly at a meeting on Thursday unable to decide on when they would meet next.

There was confusion when the panel met with its Chairman Dharmasiri Peiris tendering his resignation, citing personal reasons while some of the other members urged him to stay on. Some other members said they should seek clarification from the APRC about the panel’s role.

The panel has been the centre of controversy after eleven of its 17 members endorsed a set of proposal for wide ranging devolution of power but this was opposed by the rest , four of whom put forward a different set of proposals while two others had a different view from both these groups.