The Supreme Court has determined that certain sections of the Reparations Bill is inconsistent with the Constitution, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed Parliament today.

He said sections 27(a) and 27 (A) (iii) of the Bill was inconsistent with Sections 4(D) and Section 3 of the Constitution and therefore the SC has stated that the Bill has to be approved by a two-thirds majority of the total number of members in the Parliament. The SC has also recommended that Bill should be approved by the people at a referendum and that the inconsistency could be removed if amendments were made in line with the directions it had given.

Reparations Bill provides provisions to set up an office to look into disappearances and pay compensation to the relatives who had gone missing especially during the war.

Blurb -- Sections 27(a) and 27 (A) (iii) of the Bill was inconsistent with Sections 4(D) and Section 3 of the Constitution. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)