Supreme Court determination on Electricity Amendment Bill causes uproar in Parliament

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana

The Supreme Court's determination that the Electricity Amendment Bill is inconsistent with the Constitution as a whole, caused a showdown in Parliament with the Opposition calling for the postponement of the debate while the ruling party insisted that it should go ahead as scheduled on Thursday with the necessary amendments.

Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa called for a postponement of the debate while Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella called for a delay in submitting the Bill to the Sectoral Oversight Committee.

“We need to conduct a broad study on the Bill and the Supreme Court determination and therefore we call for a postponement of the debate set for Thursday,” Premadasa said.

Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera who responded, assured that the Bill would be amended as per the Supreme Court determination.

“We can go ahead with the debate on Thursday with the amendments. The Supreme Court determination is a guideline to ensure that the Bill is consistent with the Constitution. We will ensure that the Electricity Amendment Bill will be made consistent with the Constitution. We have already agreed with some amendments and we have stated this when the case was heard by the Supreme Court,” the Minister said.

“We wonder why the SJB is shouting about the Bill as they themselves have stated in their economic blueprint that they will also restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB),” he added.

MP Harsha de Silva who joined in the crosstalk made a different proposal and thereby requested that the debate on the Bill be extended to two days and not to be confined to a single day.