As the ruling party, the UPFA should get the majority of members in all Parliamentary Committees, said former Deputy Speaker and UPFA Chairman of Committees MP Chandima Weerakkody.
Speaking to the Daily News he said, “Parliamentary practice has always been for the ruling party to have at least one member in every Parliamentary Committee. Even in 2004 the ruling party initially had only 104 which went down to 60 after the JVP left. Even in such instances, the government had the majority. Therefore, since the UPFA is the current ruling party, it is just for the UPFA to get the majority allocation of members to these committees.” When contacted regarding the Parliamentary procedure and the appointing of members to the Parliamentary Select Committees, the Speaker’s office said that Parliamentary procedure for today would be decided after the Speaker met with the party leaders this morning.
Expressing his views in this regard JVP – MP Bimal Ratnayake said, “Firstly as there is no government or opposition party in Parliament currently; we will have to first appoint the committee of selection. This is clearly stated in the Standing Orders. These Standing Orders do not specify any government or opposition side. “This was passed in Parliament on the 19th and the members would be selected for these committees proportionate to the number of members represented in Parliament by each party. As the JVP, the Secretary General had notified us to nominate two members from our party and we have nominated Vijitha Herath and Nalinda Jayatissa.”
He said that Parliament will meet today in accordance with Standing Order 22, after the prorogation of Parliament. After the Speaker’s announcements, the JVP Adjournment Motion regarding the socio-economic issues that have arisen due to the political coup which they say should be resolved would be taken up after the main Parliament business.
from daily news