Govt. moves to dilute 13th Amendment

• Amendment proposals before Cabinet yesterday
• President provides one-week time frame for UPFA constituent allies to present views on amendments
• Amendments allow Govt. to obtain merely majority council support for legislati on affecting powers of PCs
• Prevent merger of provinces by proclamation
• Rambukwella says amalgamation provisions must be removed because provinces could merge to threaten the central authority
• Political analysts say amendments will render legislative devolution set out in 13A meaningless

By Dharisha Bastians

In what devolution proponents have called a ‘historic mistake,’ the Government yesterday proposed two major amendments to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that establishes provincial councils and sets out their jurisdictions, to prevent the amalgamation of provinces and limit the ability of a provincial administration to dissent against legislation enacted by the Central Government.

The two proposals to amend Article 154(G)(3) of the Constitution will permit the centre to pass legislation in relation to subjects in the Provincial Council List by a simple majority provided that a majority of PCs agree to the proposed legislation and to repeal Article 154(A)(3) which allows Parliament to provide for two or three adjoining provinces to form one administrative unit were put before the Cabinet of Ministers during a meeting yesterday, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said.

He added that in place of the two-thirds majority now required in Parliament to enact legislation that could not achieve the unanimous consent of the provincial councils, the new amendments would reduce the parliamentary requirement to a simple majority instead.















Govt. moves...

Reiterating that the Northern Provincial Council election scheduled for September would not be delayed under any circumstances, the Cabinet Spokesman said that the amendments would be enacted before the polls.

Blaming the Tamil National Alliance for refusing to participate in the Parliamentary Select Committee set up for the purpose of reaching consensus on a political settlement, Minister Rambukwella said that the Government had decided the time had come to make tough decisions with regard to the 13th Amendment.

“We have waited for the TNA for more than a year now. The President clearly assured that he would abide by any decision reached at the PSC level in consultation with all parties. But a Government has to govern. Issues cannot remain in limbo, so the Government has now proposed these amendments to the 13th Amendment,” he charged.

Minister Rambukwella claimed the Government had good reason for preventing provincial amalgamation the provision violated the unitary framework of the Sri Lankan state.

“If the amalgamation clause remains and the nine provinces merge, that can pose a threat to the Central Government and is therefore a threat to the unitary nature of the state,” the Minister told the Cabinet briefing at the Media Ministry last afternoon. “They could create an alternative government,” he claimed.

He said the proposed amendment had been put before the Cabinet of ministers and several of them had asked for time to study the amendments. “Time has been provided till next Thursday’s cabinet meeting for these parties to study the draft bill and come back with their views,” the Minister said.

The Daily FT learns that the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has raised objections with regard to the amendments as set out in the draft bill placed before the Cabinet yesterday. The party’s high command met following the Cabinet Meeting to discuss the Government’s proposals.

Minister Rambukwella emphasised that the amendments were not aimed at singling out the Northern Provincial Council ahead of the key election.

“The amendments will be put before the provincial councils for their views and consent as well. But in the case of the Northern Council, since it has not been constituted, that is why the President invited the TNA to express their views through the PSC process,” he explained.

Centre for Policy Alternatives Executive Director Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu told the Daily FT that the amendments had massive repercussions for the existing evolutionary framework. “The provision to take away the power of a provincial council from dissenting against legislation brought by the central government would render the 13th Amendment a meaningless mechanism to devolve legislative power,” the CPA Chief said.

Under the current provisions of the 13th Amendment, there is a safeguard built into the provisions of the Constitution to prevent the Central Government from legislating on subjects allocated to the Provincial Councils without first obtaining the consent of all councils. In the event where one or more council does not consent to a proposed bill, the Central Government has the option to either pass the bill by a simple majority, in which event the bill will become law applicable only to the provinces for which the PCs agreed to the bill, or to do so by a two-thirds majority in which case the bill will become law applicable to the entire country, the CPA says. The CPA says that the unilateral action by the Government to negate the existing devolutionary framework would be a ‘historic’ mistake.

Dr. Saravanamuttu said it was not clear whether the Government would try to remove the land and police powers devolved to the councils by stealth by enacting the new amendments since a majority of councils could now vote to return those powers to the centre.

He said the CPA would contemplate intervening in the Supreme Court once it is determined on what basis the Government would bring the amendments as an Urgent Bill in the national interest.