• The Speaker could only look at the video clips and refer the matter to the Privilege Committee

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

The only option available for the Speaker to act against misbehaving MPs is to look at the video clips and refer the matter to the Privilege Committee, a senior official in Parliament said yesterday.  

Serjeant-at-Arms Narendra Fernando came up with this remark referring to yesterday’s incident in Parliament where the main opposition SJB got into a brawl with the ruling party MPs.  
“The Speaker could only look at the video clips and refer the matter to the Privilege Committee. 

The Privilege Committee could then decide as to who had brought disrepute to the House,” he told Daily Mirror.  

Also he said standing orders does not prevent any MP from video recording sessions.  

Further Mr. Fernando said he decided to hand over the document which was grabbed by MP Sarath Nishantha to avoid further trouble. “It was not my duty to hand over the document to Mr. Premadasa. However I did it to avoid further trouble,” he said.