Representatives of political parties at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday, decided to debate the preliminary reports submitted by the six sub-committees on Constitutional reforms in Parliament early next month.
An authoritative source said the President is expected to open this debate scheduled for three days from January 9 to 11. Reports by the committees on Fundamental Rights,Judiciary, Finance, Law and Order, Public Service and Centre-Periphery Relations will be taken up for debate by the legislators next month. Meanwhile, due to the requests by a number of political parties seeking more time to study the proposals submitted for a draft constitutional document, the Constitutional assembly postponed the meeting till next month to discuss the outstanding issues on four key areas, principle of devolution, electoral reforms, religion and land. The meeting will be held on January 5 and 6, the sources said. During the holidays, the political parties have sought to internally deliberate the proposals submitted so far. - MF