Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Faizer Musthapha refused to accept the much- awaited Delimitation Committee report yesterday pointing out that the report had not been signed by all five members that he appointed to the Committee.
“I appointed five members to the Delimitation Committee. Now two members have not signed.
I request the chairman of the Committee Asoka Peiris to inform the other two members in written form to explain the reasons for not signing it,” he said.
A press conference was summoned at the Local Government and Provincial Councils Ministry yesterday and the media was informed that the Delimitation Committee Chairman Asoka Peiris will hand over the report to Minister Mustapha.
However, Minister Mustapha refused to accept the report and added that he has to look into the legal provisions whether he can accept the report without the signature of two members among the five member Committee.
Peiris contradicted the statement made by the minister and added that the report can be accepted if it has been signed by a majority in the Committee.
“Last Friday, all five members of the Committee decided to submit the report to the minister on Monday. However, only three members signed the report on Saturday and we decided to submit the report to the minister as the majority signed it. The other two members said that they need to go through the report again before signing it,” he said.
The Delimitation Committee is headed by the former Commissioner-General of Lands, Asoka Peiris, with four other members representing political parties; the United National Party’s A.S.M. Misbar, the United People’s Freedom Alliance’s K. Saliya, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s Upul Kumaraperuma and the Tamil National Alliance’s Professor B. Balasundarampillai.
According to Peiris, Misbar and Saliya refused to sign the report.
On a request by Minister Mustapha, Peiris also agreed to inform the members in writing.
Meanwhile, Minister Mustapha denied comments made by Peiris to a newspaper.
He said he cannot accept the report if all five members have not signed it and added that the report has been formulated sans political interference. Peiris noted that the report has been completed as mandated by the ministry.
“The report is available in all three languages. There are three parts to the report; the whole report is available in the form of a book, the details of the new electorates are available with the demarcated boundaries and there is also a CD with detailed maps,” he said.
Responding to a question by a journalist whether Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had discussions with Peiris, Minister Mustapha said there are no issues in the Prime Minister having
discussions with committee members.
“The committee was appointed under the directions of the Prime Minister. This report is a need of the country. Therefore, there are no problems in the Prime Minister discussing it with the officers,” he said.
When the minister was questioned whether the members who have not signed the report represent major political parties, he said the committee and the views of political parties they represent are two different aspects.