News
Retirement age of Secretary General of Parliament not discussed, say Speaker and others
View(s):Making a special announcement in Parliament on Monday (5), Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena stated that the report in the Sunday Times of December 4, 2022 under the headline “Committee rejects move to increase retirement age of Parliament Secretary General” was incorrect.
The Speaker stated that there was no discussion regarding the retirement of the Secretary General of Parliament in the Parliamentary Staff Advisory Committee meeting chaired by him at the Speaker’s office recently and emphasised that only the retirement age of parliamentary staff members was taken into discussion on that day.
Speaker Abeywardena also informed that there was no discussion regarding matters related to the personal staff of the Secretary General as indicated in the said newspaper article.
Leader of the House Susil Premajayantha noted that the three points mentioned in the report are false. There were only two points discussed at the meeting. One was regarding the Shravasthi building which is under the Speaker. The second point was about the retirement age of Parliament staff in the context of the retirement age of public sector employees. “We did not discuss a word about the Secretary General or his personal staff,” he emphasised.
Stating that the publication of the news item had violated the privileges of members who took part in the discussion, Mr Premajayantha recommended that all persons concerned be summoned before Parliament’s Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa stated that he also took part in the said meeting. He confirmed that no discussion was held on the retirement age of the Secretary General during the meeting and only the retirement age of the Parliament employees in general was discussed.
While the report was false, Mr Premadasa suggested that it need not go to the extreme step of going before the Privileges Committee. He said a small warning by letter or telephone asking for a correction could be sent for publication.
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