19 October 2022 09:18 am Views - 185
By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana
The Petroleum Products (Special Provisions) (Amendment) Bill under which the importation, distribution and selling of oil locally is liberalised was approved in Parliament yesterday.
A total of 77 MPs voted for, and 17 MPs voted against the Bill during the second reading of the Bill while the third reading was approved without a vote.
The vote at the end of second reading was taken up after National People’s Power (NPP) MP Vijitha Herath called for a division.
Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella requested the Minister to bring in an amendment to the Bill permitting Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to function as the regulation body as it is contradictory that the Minister was issue the permit was empowered to carry out the regulation process also.
Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the government was not ready to accept the amendment and that they would only make the three amendments proposed by the Supreme Court.” There will be a separate regularly body as prescribed by the Supreme Court. It was assured that there would be no retrenchment of staff at CPC as a result of the legislation.