Conducting of Law College examinations only in English Gazette notification not approved by Parliament

By Ajith Siriwardana   

The gazette notification, which had been issued making it compulsory to conduct Law College examinations only in English, was defeated in Parliament by 113 votes yesterday.   

All government and opposition MPs except for MP Chandima Weerakkody voted against the gazette notification after a division was called for by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.   

Accordingly, the Extraordinary Gazette notification (2208/13) issued in December 2020 making it compulsory to conduct all Law College Examinations only in English was not approved by Parliament.   

As the gazette notification was not approved by Parliament, students who are facing the Law College Examinations will be allowed to sit the examinations in a language of their choice either in Sinhala, Tamil or English.    The gazette notification was taken up yesterday amidst heated arguments as the government proposed to withdraw it and postpone for an another date, claiming that there was a procedural issue of taking it up in Parliament yesterday as it was not approved by the Cabinet.   

However, both government and opposition MPs argued that the Gazette notification should be taken up, as postponement would affect the students facing Law College examinations shortly.   

State Minister of Justice and Prison Affairs Anurada Jayaratne said the government had no objections to presenting the gazette notification in Parliament and added that they wanted to postpone it as there was an issue in the procedure of presenting it.   

However, the government moved it in Parliament due to objections by both government and opposition MPs against postponing it.