Members to Committee of Selection to be named next week

• Party leaders agree to send names by Thursday
• Speaker to announce composition of committee next Tuesday when House meets
• Selection Committee will in turn nominate members to important committees such as COPE, COPA

By Chandani Kirinde  

Party leaders yesterday agreed to next week appoint members to the Committee of Selection, which in turn will nominate members to other important parliamentary committees such as COPE and COPA.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who presided over the meeting, informed party leaders and political party representatives to submit their nominations by Thursday (16) to the Office of the Secretary General of Parliament.

The relevant proposal is to be included in the Order of Business for the next sitting day on 21 January.

The Committee of Selection is appointed upon the commencement of each new session under which matters pertaining to the appointment of MPs to serve on other committees is decided.

The Committee of Selection will be headed by the Speaker and will consist of 12 members, including the leaders of political parties or their nominees to be nominated by Parliament at the commencement of each session.

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Committee on Public Finance are among those that will be reconstituted after they elapsed with the propagation of Parliament last December.

Parliament will sit from Tuesday to Friday next week, the first full sitting week since the new Government took office. Nine regulations under the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, three regulations under the Construction Industry and Development Act and several orders under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance are scheduled for debate while there will be a Vote of Condolence on the late Parliamentarian Ranjith De Zoysa on 24 January.

Yesterday’s party leaders meeting was attended by Leader of the House Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Chief Government Whip Minister Johnston Fernando, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and MPs Ajith P. Perera, Lakshman Kiriella and Ravi Karunanayake.