යෝජිත නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව (Third Republic Constitution) Chapter XXIII

 CHAPTER XXIII

 

 

CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL AND INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONS

 

 

CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL (CC)

 

 184.       (1) The Constitutional Council shall consist of following members.

 

(a)    Prime Minister;

(b)   Speaker;

(c)    Leader of Opposition;

(d)   Vice President;

(e)   A nominee of Cabinet Minister in charge of Ministry of Local Government;

(f)     A nominee of Leader of Opposition;

(g)    A nominee of the political party who has the most seats after the government party and main opposition party;

(h)   Two nominees of each of two Provincial Councils in equitable rotation.

(2) The nominated members (known as “nominee members”) who shall be appointed by President to the Council shall be subjected to the following qualifications and conditions.

(a)  he shall be a Citizen of Sri Lanka, and shall not hold Citizenship in any other country;

(b)  he shall be not below the age of thirty five years and not over sixty years;

(c) he shall not have been a candidate in an election to be elected to Parliament, Provincial Council or Local Council, during the last ten years;

(d)  he shall not have been a member of a political party during the last ten years;

(e) he shall not be a member any political party for the next five years since the date of expiry, resignation or removal of such member;

(f) he shall not be allowed to be appointed as head or directorship of any State institution for the next ten years since date of expiry, resignation or removal of such member;

(g) he shall not be subjected to Civic Disability at the time of consideration or appointment, or whilst in the Council;

(h) he shall possess at least a first degree or equivalent, and  be a distinguished person in the country.

(3) The Council shall be presided over by Speaker, and all the members shall be present in its meetings or deliberations when it is to take a final decision.

(4) The Council shall meet at least once every three months, and in addition, it shall meet within two days of occurrence of vacancy in a position listed as in the List 1 and List 2 of Article 185.

(5) Nominees shall be communicated to Speaker within two weeks of the commencement of this Constitution or since a vacancy occurs in such position:

Provided that Constitutional Council shall proceed with Speaker, Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and any remaining members notwithstanding any such vacancy which has not filled in the manner described in this paragraph until such nominees are appointed at a later possible time.

(6) Notwithstanding the dissolution of Parliament, all the members of the Council just before the dissolution of Parliament shall continue to be members of the Council until new members are appointed to the Council.

185.       (1) The Sole function and responsibility of Constitutional Council is to nominate members to the independent Commissions listed in List 1 and to nominate members to the State positions listed in List 2 below:

                       List 1

(a) The Public Service Commission;

(b) The Elections Commission;

(c) The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka;

(d) The Judicial Commission;

(e) The National Police Commission;

(f) The National Audit Commission;

(g) The Attorney Commission;

(h) The National Procurement Commission;

(i) The Anti-corruption Commission;

(j) The Finance Commission;

(k) The Delimitation Commission; and

(l) The Information and Mass Communication Commission.

                                              List 2

(a) The Chief Justice and the Judges of the Supreme Court;

(b) The President and the Judges of the Court of Appeal;

(c) The Presidents and the Judges of High Courts, and High Court of Sri Lanka;

(d) The Inspector General of Police;

(e) The Secretary General of Parliament;

(f) The Secretary General to a Cabinet Ministry;

(g) The Secretary General to Chief Minister;

(h) The Provincial Secretary;

(i) The Governor of the Central Bank;

(j) Ambassadors and High Commissioners to the United Nations and foreign missions;

(k) Chairman and Directors of the University Grants Commission;

(l) Chairman and Directors of the Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka;

(m) Chairman and Directors of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka; and

(n) Chairmen and Directors to Rupavahini Corporation, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, and LakeHouse.

(2)  The Council shall nominate not less than two candidates for a vacancy, and President shall at his discretion or on advice by Prime Minister, as the case may be, appoint one of them to such vacancy.

186.       (1) The tenure of nominee Members of the Council shall be three years, unless Parliament is dissolved sooner and in such occasion, the nominee Members shall vacate upon the new members being nominated and appointed.

(2) A nominee member may be re-appointed up to three such terms.

 

(2) The provisions of Article 62 of this Constitution shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to nominee members of the Council.

187.       A nominee Member of the Council shall vacate the membership:

(1) by death of the member;

(2) on resignation by writing thereof addressed to President;

(3) if he is subjected to Civic Disability;

(4) if he is proved guilty of a criminal offence and sentenced to not less than three months;

(5) if he is proved guilty of a corruption or bribery; and

(6) if he is impeached in State Assembly in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 43(3).

188.       All decisions of the Council shall be made by a majority of votes of the members present at the meeting. In the event of an equality of votes, the member presiding at the meeting shall have a casting vote.

189.       Subject to the provisions of Article 164, no court or tribunal shall have power or jurisdiction to inquire into or pronounce upon or in any manner call in question any decision made by the Council.

 

190.       (1) Every person who, otherwise than in the course of such person’s lawful duty, directly or indirectly by himself or by or with any other person, in any manner whatsoever influences or attempts to influence or interferes with any decision of the Council, or to so influence any member of the Council shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand LKRS or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) Every High Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine any matter referred to in paragraph (1) of this Article.

 

 යෝජිත ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව PDF