{"id":55536,"date":"2017-09-28T17:04:55","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T21:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=55536"},"modified":"2017-09-28T17:05:46","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T21:05:46","slug":"speaker-karu-jayasuriya-flayed-by-jo-leader-dinesh-gunawaradena-for-alleged-partisan-conduct-in-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=55536","title":{"rendered":"Speaker Karu Jayasuriya Flayed by JO Leader Dinesh Gunawardena For Alleged Partisan Conduct in Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Joint Opposition yesterday revealed that the English version of the recently ratified Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act differed from the Sinhala text.<\/p>\n

JO parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardena said that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had endorsed it without verification. The Speaker\u2019s failure to detect the mistake had resulted in the Government Printer issuing the relevant gazette notification with it.<\/p>\n

Gunawardena said so at the weekly JO media briefing at Dr. N. M. Perera centre at Cotta Road,Borella. The JO parliamentary group leader was flanked by former External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris, LSSP leader Prof. Tissa Vitharana and Pivuthuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila, MP.Unless remedial measures were taken the government\u2019s promise to hold the much-delayed local government polls in January 2018, too, would go unfulfilled, MP Gunawardena said. MEP leader Gunawardena faulted Speaker Jayasuriya for what he called an unprecedented constitutional crisis caused by the ruling UNP-SLFP coalition putting off both local government and Provincial Council polls indefinitely.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Speaker Jayasuriya couldn\u2019t be contacted for comment as he was out of the country.<\/p>\n

Alleging that Speaker Jayasuriya had caused irreparable damage to the parliamentary democracy by allowing his party to operate with impunity at the expense of parliamentary traditions and Standing Orders, MP<\/p>\n

Gunawardena said that the UNPer should take responsibility for the pathetic situation. He asserted that perhaps Provincial Council and Local Government Minister Faiszer Mustapha would have to move a fresh amendment to rectify the mistake.<\/p>\n

Prof. Peiris pointed out that in case of discrepancy the Sinhala version would prevail.<\/p>\n

The Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill was passed in Parliament on Aug. 25with a majority of 120 votes providing for holding the long overdue Local Government elections under a new electoral system.<\/p>\n

Following a division called by the Joint Opposition, 120 members voted for the bill while 44 members abstained. No member voted against the bill. The UNP and SLFP members in the government, JVP and TNA voted in favour.<\/p>\n

The Joint Opposition led by MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena abstained from voting.<\/p>\n

MP Gunawardena alleged that Speaker Jayasuriya and Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya had worked in unison to put off Provincial Council polls in Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern Provinces. Having repeatedly assured good governance and accountability, no less a person than Speaker Jayasuriya had shamelessly paved the way for the UNP, a section of the SLFP (those loyal to President Sirisena), the TNA and the JVP to bring in controversial amendments to the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment) Act in the eleventh hour to put off PC polls scheduled for Dec this year.<\/p>\n

Speaker Jayasuriya had displayed his partiality towards the UNP led project by giving two hours and forty minutes for the government to secure the required two-thirds majority. “Have you ever heard of any Speaker giving over two hours for a government to muster two-thirds majority?”, MP Gunawardena asked.<\/p>\n

The JO parliamentary leader alleged that Speaker Jayasuriya\u2019s actions couldn\u2019t be condoned under any circumstances.<\/p>\n

Had the President and Prime Minister kept much touted yahapalana promises they wouldn\u2019t have had to resort to fraudulent means to put off polls, the MP said.<\/p>\n

Gunawardena pointed out that the government had also included provision in the Provincial Councils Amendment Act to pave the way for the setting up of a separate Delimitation Commission.<\/p>\n

He stressed that establishment of a separate Delimitation Commission would be contrary to the 19 Amendment. The MEP leader said that the government should secure the support of National Delimitation Commission for the delimitation process regarding the Provincial Councils. There couldn\u2019t be any justification in new apparatus when National Delimitation Commission was in place in accordance with 19 Amendment to the Constitution, the JO leader said.<\/p>\n

MP Gunawardena said that those who had campaigned for a change of government in January 2015 were today silent.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Island<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando The Joint Opposition yesterday revealed that the English version of the recently ratified Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act differed from the Sinhala text. JO parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardena said that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had endorsed it without verification. The Speaker\u2019s failure to detect the mistake had resulted in the Government Printer …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Speaker Karu Jayasuriya Flayed by JO Leader Dinesh Gunawardena For Alleged Partisan Conduct in Parliament’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55536"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55536"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55538,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55536\/revisions\/55538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}