-Poddala Jayantha writes..
(Lanka-e-News - 01.Feb.2018, 2.10AM) State leader Maithripala Sirisena who has by now become a laughing stock of the country and a clown before the people despite being the highest in the hierarchy, by tabling the Bond Commission report without some of its pages to the Parliament has made a deliberate move to mislead the supreme legislative body . This move constitutes a breach of parliamentary privilege of every member of Parliament (225 in number) who are all representatives of the people , meaning that it is tantamount to a violation of the people’s sovereign rights , according to legal experts and luminaries.
This is a grave misconduct of the executive in relation to the legislature through the use of the president’s power most controversially . In other words it is a gross and direct violation of the constitution , the legal experts pinpointed.
The constitution empowers the president to inquire into any subject and obtain a report (Special Advisory presidential Commission Act) .
The report forwarded to the president following an inquiry conducted by such a Commission when being tabled before the legislative assembly (parliament ) by the president cannot be amended , interpolated or its content reduced , and if that has happened , the executive has degraded the constitution , whereby there had been a breach of parliamentary privilege accorded under the constitution to the representatives elected by the people. Since the M.P.s are people’s representatives , it is also tantamount to a violation of the sovereign rights of the people.
If an M.P. or a State officer or any individual who is acting under their command , forwards a written or oral information to any Institution or Parliament ,and if it is incorrect or false when it is sent or tabled ,it is tantamount to misleading the Parliament , and is liable to punishment under the laws of parliamentary privilege.
In an instance in which an M.P. in Parliament makes a false statement , the speaker halts the publication of it in the Hansard when objections are raised against it. This applies to a submission of a false document which has been tampered with whether it is a page or paragraph or even if anything as small as a sentence is removed ;that is an absolute wrongdoing .
On public platforms it was announced by president on four occasions before 25 th January that the Bond Commission report after removal of some of its pages was forwarded to Parliament by him . It was also revealed this step was taken as a precautionary measure in view of future legal action contemplated.
The submission of such an incomplete (sans some pages) Bond Commission report cannot be accepted as ‘an inadvertent mistake’ under any circumstances.
It is significant to note the president is not vested with powers under special presidential Commission Act to alter , reduce or make additions to the content of a State document tabled in parliament for any reason , let alone in view of contemplated legal action . Neither the Attorney General (AG) has the power to proffer such advice to the president . (The president has powers, if necessary to hold back the report without revealing , but he has no powers to alter , add to or reduce the content of the document tabled in parliament).
Is the legislature supreme or the Supreme Court ? Anura Bandaranaike a former speaker answering this question ruled ,any document sent to the legislature cannot be altered , interpolated or reduced in its content and the AG cannot give such advice, and such advice is a wrong equivalent to encouraging misconduct mentioned hereinbefore .
This report which is false cannot be a topic for debate in parliament even merely on the fact that it is incomplete, and cannot be included in the agenda book.
Legal experts and luminaries are intently watching as to what measures the parliament is going to take in this regard.
The party leaders are to meet with the speaker , and the legal experts are expecting them to question on this .
This is a compilation following a discussion with legal experts.
Translated by Jeff
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by (2018-01-31 21:05:28)
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