New Constitutional Council to meet today

The newly-appointed members to the Constitutional Council will meet for the first time today at 12 noon at the Parliamentary complex. 

The maiden task assigned will be to select a suitable Judge as Chief Justice, a position which will be vacant from today with the 45th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka Justice Priyasath Dep reaching retirement age.

According to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, former Sri Lankan diplomat Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, Attorney-at-Law Ahmad Javid Yusuf and University of Colombo Faculty of Law Member Naganathan Selvakkumaran are the new members representing civil society appointed to the Constitutional Council. 

“Minister of Justice Thalatha Athukorala was nominated as per an agreement between the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader. Opposition lawmaker Bimal Rathnayake was appointed as the minor party representative, due from a political party outside of the parties to which the PM and the Opposition Leader belong (UNP and TNA). Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe has been appointed as the President’s Representative,” explained Speaker Jayasuriya, revealing the full membership of the Constitutional Council.

Jayasuriya (Chairman), Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader R Sampanthan are ex-officio members of the CC. 

Jayasuriya said the appointment letters to all the new members of the CC would be issued yesterday. 

The 10-member CC is the apex decision making body that recommends the appointments to the independent commissions and high-ranking positions such as the Attorney General, Auditor General, Parliament Secretary General, IGP, Chief Justice and Superior Court Judges, etc. (AH)