A dispute broke out in Parliament on Wednesday over how members should be invited to a Bar Association of Sri Lanka briefing scheduled for Thursday, with the Leader of the House rejecting the Opposition Leader’s request that all 225 MPs be formally notified.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told the House that the BASL had asked for the meeting and that a delegation was due at Parliament between 12 noon and 1.30 p.m. the following day. He asked that the Deputy Speaker and Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne arrange for every member to be informed and invited, regardless of party.
”No one can summon Members of Parliament”
Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake objected, saying the request bypassed established procedure and that neither an individual MP nor an outside organisation could convene the membership.
“First of all, no one can summon Members of Parliament merely because something has been announced to the media,” he said, as reported by NewsFirst. He said members could only be formally notified through an agreement reached at the Business Committee and with the consent of the Leader of the House.
Daily Mirror quoted him more bluntly: “Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa has no powers to call for such a meeting. The decision has to be made by the party leaders. There is a procedural error.”
Rathnayake also said that allowing one professional body such access would make it difficult to refuse others. “If we allow this, we will have to grant similar access to many other professional groups. That is not practical,” he said, adding that Premadasa was free to inform his own MPs.
An earlier approach the BASL rejected
Rathnayake referred back to a letter Premadasa sent the Speaker several weeks ago proposing a specific date and time for a meeting with the Bar Association. He said the BASL publicly rejected that approach on August 4, stating it was not a political tool of any party and questioning how the Opposition Leader could allocate times on its behalf without consultation.
MP Mano Ganesan intervened to say Premadasa had only asked that members be informed and had not claimed authority to convene Parliament. “Whether he has the authority or not is a different matter,” he said.
Premadasa responded that he had briefed the Speaker and asked him to make arrangements for MPs to attend.
The delegation is due to brief members on the 22nd Amendment and unfilled judicial vacancies in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
