The Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly has agreed that the Centre must have the power to dissolve the Provincial Councils or take over their powers, Constitutional Lawyer and UNP MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne said.
He was speaking at the Adjournment Debate in Parliament on Wednesday.
“We have now proposed to include a Clause in the new Constitution to enable the Centre to dissolve or take over the powers of any Provincial Council if it acts against the unity, territorial integrity and independence of the country,” Dr. Wickramaratne said.
He said this provision is not there in the existing Constitution. He pointed out even the TNA has reacted positively to the proposal. “They said they have no problem with it as far as safeguards are taken to prevent the misuse of this provision,” he said.
Dr.Wickramaratne pointed out the problem of arbitrary use of power by the President would not arise as any of his actions could be challenged before the Supreme Court as of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
The topic of ‘devolution’ was discussed at length at the Steering Committee meeting last Tuesday. The MP said Chief Ministers of seven provinces in the southern polity have proposed in the light of their experience that power sharing must be genuine and that Governors’ powers must be pruned. “They want the Governors’ public administrative powers to be given to an independent Commission appointed by the Centre. They want clear cut division of subjects between the Centre and Provincial Councils,” he said.
Reportedly, there has been general consensus in the Steering Committee meeting that the ‘concurrent list’ (the list of shared powers between the Central Government and Provinces), should be a ‘short list’. Joint Opposition members had also attended the meeting.
Add new comment