Marking another step in the constitution-making process initiated by the Government, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe yesterday submitted the reports of the six sub-committees appointed to make recommendations in the areas of Fundamental Rights, Judiciary, Finance, Law and Order, Public Service and Centre-Periphery Relations to the Constitutional Assembly yesterday for its consideration.
The six sub-committees made their recommendations based on the views expressed by the committee members and the expert’s views on the relevant field.
The Sub Committe on Centre-Periphery Relations in their recommendations on land power states that State lands within a Province should be the subject matter to be handled by the legislative and executive body of the Province.
However, it recommends that the Central Government shall have the authority to require a Provincial executive to release any piece of State land for its legitimate use as specified in the Reserved List and it shall be the duty of the Provincial executive to release such extent of State land within its Province to the Central Government for that purpose.
Dealing with the devolution of power to the provincial and grassroots level political institutions the Sub Committee on the Centre -Periphery Relations also states that many provisions in the constitution, particularly in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the relevant Acts of Parliament, as the bottleneck for the smooth functioning of the Provincial councils in the country and made many recommendations to remove those bottlenecks.
With regard to the powers vested with the Provincial Councils the committee recommends that the Concurrent List to be done away with and the subjects added to relevant Lists. It also recommend the repeal of the rubric “National Policy on All Subjects and Functions” from the Reserved List.
It also recommends the devolving of power to the grassroots level by setting up Grama Rajaya institutions at village level.
The Provincial Police Service should be brought under an independent Provincial Police Commission similar to the National Police Commission.
There should be a Constitutional Court for pre and post judicial review of the statutes passed by the provincial councils and to resolve any disputes between the Centre and the Provinces and amongst the provinces in their executive functions.
The sub-committee report on judiciary recommended incorporating provisions guaranteeing and securing the principle of judicial independence. The sub-committee on judiciary also recommended the setting up of a Constitutional Court consisting of seven members appointed by the President to specialize on Constitutional Law. Further, the judicial power of the People has to be vested directly in the Judiciary by the Constitution. The sub-committee on public service proposes a National Planning Commission appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council to formulate sustainable national policies. Public Sector Performance and Review Committee is recommended to be established. The sub-committee on Finance has recommended to set up Finance Commission by the president should not be within the Treasury.