No confidence motion against Sri Lanka Speaker taken up in Parliament
COLOMBO – Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena had ignored opposition protests and a Supreme Court ruling when passing the Online Safety Bill, chief opposition whip Lakshman Kiriella charged in Parliament on Tuesday (19), when the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) took up its no-confidence motion against the Speaker.
Clauses that required a two-thirds majority if they were not amended as per the Supreme Court ruling, were passed by a simple majority without the amends, Kiriella charged, claiming “He ignored calls for a division and approved the third reading without a vote.”
Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said the opposition had not studied the approved Bill carefully, as it would become evident that the changes found to be in violation of clause 12.1 of the Constitution had been amended or removed altogether.
“4 of the 9 charges you make have one shortcoming, pertaining to repeat offenders, which has been amended by the Attorney General and sent to be gazetted,” Rajapaksa said.
“The speaker who you are accusing is the very person who allows all your time-wasting requests that take away from our time to get anything done.”
Kiriella also charged that the speaker had used his vote at the Constitutional Council wrongly when the council approved the appointment of the Inspector General of Police.
-economynext.com
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