Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka

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The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament with 215 voting in favor, one against, one abstained and seven were absent, on 28 April 2015.^[1] It is the most revolutionary reform ever applied to the Constitution of Sri Lanka since JR Jayawardhane became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka in 1978.^[2]

Introduction.

The proposal for such an amendment was a leading promise of the Common Candidate of the New Democratic Front, incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena in the Presidential Election Campain 2015.^[3] The main prospect of the amendment is repealing the 18th Amendment which armed the President with extreme powers^[4] and reinforcing democracy in the country. It establishes a Constitutional Council which will exercise some executive powers previously held by the Executive Presidency. The 19th amendment restores many components of the 17th amendment^[5] leting the Constitutional Council to set up the proposed Independent Commissions including;

Drafting process

In early May 2013 the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government had started drafting a constitutional amendment to reduce the terms of office of the President and the Chief Justice to five years each, instead of Six years for the President and unlimited term, to age 65, for the Chief Justice. According to the proposed amendment, there would be no limit, however, on how often a President could be re-elected. That drafted amendment had addressed National issues of power devolution and proposed to repeal land and Police powers vested with the Provincial Councils.^[6]
And by May 2013 then opposition political groups, diplomats and civil organizations like the People's Liberation Front or JVP, Jathika Hela Urumaya, Athuraliye Rathana Thero of Pivithuru Hetak National Movement,^[7] Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero and Dinura Balasooriya of the Path of Good Governance had taken measures to draft a new Constitution of British Westminster system^[8][9] for the country to address various issues especially the isssues arisen by the 18th Amendment.^[10] The UNP had appointed a committee chaired by the Parliamentarian and former Bar Association President Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to draft the constitution. The party also proposed as a novel system the Executive powers of the President to be exercised on political basis and to be subject to checks and balances. The proposals guaranteed the freedom of expression and the right to information. The UNP also proposed that the system of preference votes be abolished and the tenure of the Parliament and the Provincial Council fixed at five years. The Key-elements of the proposed Constitution were;^[11]

1. Restoration of the People’s Sovegnty
2. Legislature
3. Executive
4. Devolution of Powers
5. Judiciary
6. Good Governance
7. Participatory Democracy

A brief history up to 1978.

Queen Elizabeth II, Head of state of Ceylon

Under the Soulbury Constitution which was consisted of 1.The Ceylon Independence Act, 1947 and 2.The Ceylon (Constitution and Independence) Orders in Council 1947, Sri Lanka was then known as Ceylon.^[12] The Soulbury Constitution provided a parliamentary form of Government for Ceylon and for a Judicial Service Commission and a Public Service Commission. Minority rights were safeguarded by Article 29(2) of the Constitution.. The Governor-General (The Agent of the Queen of England), the Senate and the House of Representatives exercised legislative power. The House of Representatives consisted of 101 Members, of which 95 were elected by universal suffrage and 6 were nominated by the Governor-General. That total number was increased to 151 by the 1959 Delimitation Commission and the term of the House was 5 years^[13] The S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike Government set up a Joint Select Commitee of the Senate and the House of Representatives to consider a revision of the Constitution on 10 January 1958 but the Commitee was unable to come to a final conclusion on account of the propegation of Parliament on 23 May 1959.^[14] A simillar attempt by the Dudley Senanayake Government was failed due to such a propegation on 22 June 1968 too.^[15] The Senate consisted of 30 Members (elected 15 by the House and 15 by the Governor -General) was abolished on 2 October 1971.

Amendments to the 1946 Constitution

• 29 of 1954 on 06.07.1954 to amend section 29(2) to enable enactment of Act Nos.35 & 36 of 1954
• 35 of 1954 on 16.07.1954 to increase the number of Members to 105 for a specified period and to terminate the services of the then existing Delimitation Commissioners.
• 36 of 1954 on 16.07.1954 to make provision for the election of Members of the House of Representatives to represent persons registered as citizens of Ceylon under the Indian and Pakistani Residents (Citizenship) Act No.3 of 1949.
• 4 of 1959 on 06.02.1959 to appoint a Delimitation Commission; to amend section 47 regarding delegation of power to Parliamentary Secretaries and to repeal Act Nos. 35 &36 of 1954.
• 71 of 1961 on 30.12.1961 to include "Election judge" under section 55.
• 8 of 1964 on 12.03.1964 to place the post of Commissioner of Elections in the Constitution and to make financial provision to conduct elections.
• 29 of 1970 on 18.11.1970 to permit public officers (other than those in specified categories) to contest elections, and to make them eligible to be elected or nominated to the Senate.
• 36 of 1971 on 02.10.1971 to abolish the Senate.^[16]

The Republican Constitution 1972 - Ceylon became Sri Lanka.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike came to office as the world's first Woman Prime Minister in May 1970.^[17] Her United Front Government used the parliament as a Constituent Assembly and drafted a new Republican Constitution. It was promulgated on 22 May 1972. This Constitution provided for a unicameral legislature named the National State Assembly with a term of office of 6 years and Sovereignty was entirely vested in it. A nominal President with a term of office of 4 years was appointed as the Head of State by the Prime Minister, Head of the Cabinet of Miniaters responsible to the National State assembly. Ceylon was replaced by republic of Sri Lanka (Resplendent Island). this constitution contained a declaration of fundamental rights and freedom was amended on 11 February 1 975 to change the basis of delimitation of constituencies from 75,000 persons per electorate to 90,000 persons.^[18]
J. R. Jayewardene who came to office in July 1977 with a five-sixths majority passed the second amendment to the 1972 Constitution on 4 October 1977 and then Prime Minister Jayawardene became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka on 4 February 1978.^[19]

Challenges and legal validity.

Since the 19th Constitutional Amendment Draft Bill was presented to Parliament by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on 24 March 2015, 19 petitions were filed with regard to the new amendment. Five of them were filed for the amendment while 14 petitions were filed against it. On 9 April 2015 the petitions were considered and the abendment was reviewed by a panel of Supreme Court Judges led by Chief Justice K. Sri Pavan and determined that it was consistent with the Constitution. While presenting his submissions, the Attorney General told the court that the 19th Amendment could be passed with a two-thirds majority in Parliament without calling for a referendum. The three-judge bench ruled that the Proposed Bill complied with the provisions of Article 82(1) of the Constitution^[20] but required to be passed by a special majority of the parliament as specified in Article 82 (5) of the Constitution and certain sections required to be approved by the people of the country at a general referendum.^[21] The Sri Lankan government had to changed the bill several times in a bid to get the backing of parliamentary opposition parties and amended the relevant clauses and removed the sections that need a referendum before presenting it to parliament.^[22]

The articles.

The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution is consisted of 38 articles.^[23]

References