Posted by 
Colombo, February 12: A coalition of Sri Lankan Tamil parties have proposed that as part of various measures to make devolution under the 13 th. Amendment (13A) meaningful the powers currently vested with the Provincial Governor be pruned, and more powers be given to the elected Provincial Chief Minister and the Board of Ministers.
Under pressure from India and the Western countries, and also eying the Tamil vote in the 2024 Presidential election, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe had declared that he would discuss the full implementation of the 13A and also other issues relating to ethnic reconciliation with the Tamil parties.
At one of his meetings with the Tamil parties, it was decided that the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) MP from Jaffna district, M.A. Sumanthiran, would present to the President a paper on what exactly ought to be done to the 13A to satisfy the Tamils.
In his paper, Sumanthiran proposed a number of steps to make devolution meaningful. Chief among them was that the powers of the Provincial Governor be pruned to require him to act “on the advice of the Chief Minister,” except in specific cases where he had discretionary power.
The lawyer-MP’s other suggestions were: (1) Appoint a National Land Commission and formulate a comprehensive land policy; (2) Set up Provincial Police Forces as envisaged in the constitution; (3) Make necessary amendments to: (a) the Provincial Councils Act; (b) Provincial Councils (Constitutional Provisions) Act; and (c) Transfer of Powers (Divisional Secretaries) Act; (4) Reverse all the Central enactments (such as the National Transport Act, Agrarian Services Act and the Divineguma Act that had taken away powers given to the Provincial Councils in the 13A; and (5) Abolish the concept of National Schools and revert all schools and hospitals that now come under the Central administration back to the Provinces.
Section 15 of the Provincial Councils Act, No. 42 of 1987 says that the Governor shall make rules for the allocation of business among the Ministers. But the ITAK wants this to be done “on the advice of the Chief Minister.” Likewise, Sec. 16 refers to “contracts entered into in the exercise of the executive power of the Governor of the Province.” The ITAK says that this should be changed to “contracts entered into by the Provincial Council,” not the Governor.
As per Sec.31, the President “shall appoint the Chief Secretary of the Province with the concurrence of the Chief Minister.” But this has to be changed to: “The Chief Minister shall appoint the Chief Secretary with the concurrence of the Governor.”
Sect. 32 (1) says “Subject to the provisions of any other law the appointment, transfer, dismissal and disciplinary control of officers of the provincial public service of such Province is hereby vested in the Governor of that Province.” But the ITAK wants this power to be exercised by the Governor “ on the advice of the Board of Ministers of the Province.”
Sec. 32 (2) says that the Governor of a Province may, from time to time, delegate his powers of appointment, transfer, dismissal and disciplinary control of officers of the provincial public service to the Provincial Public Service Commission of that Province. The ITAK wants the Governor to act “on the advice of the Board of Ministers” in these matters.
Sec 32 (3) also says: “The Governor shall provide for and determine all matters relating to officers of the provincial public service, including the formulation of schemes of recruitment and codes of conduct for such officers, the principle to be followed in, making promotions and transfers, and the procedure for the exercise and the delegation of the powers of appointment, transfer, dismissal and disciplinary control of such officers.” The ITAK says the Governor should exercise this power “on the advice of the Board of Ministers.”
Sec 33 (1) says: “There shall be a Provincial Public Service Commission for each Province which shall consist of not less than three persons appointed by the Governor of that Province. The Governor shall nominate one of the members of the Commission to be the Chairman.” The ITAK submits that this should be done “on the advice of the Board of Ministers” and that the Governor shall “on the advice of the Board of Ministers” nominate one of the members of the Commission to be the Chairman.
Sec 33 (3) says that the Governor of the Province can remove a member of the Provincial Public Service Commission. But the ITAK submits that this should be done only “on the advice of the Board of Ministers.” The Governor could grant leave from duties to a member of the Provincial Public Service Commission, but “only on the advice of the Board of Ministers,” the ITAK asserts. And any temporary vacancy should be filled only on the advice of the Board of Ministers.
Government’s Response
In his policy statement made in parliament recently, President Wickremesinghe said: “Amendments will be introduced to the following Acts in order to regularize and streamline the delegation process: The Transfer of Powers (Divisional Secretaries) Act, No. 58 of 1992, the Provincial Councils (Consequential Provisions) Act, No. 12 of 1989 and Provincial Councils (Amendment) Act No. 28 of 1990.”
He further said: “It is alleged that due to certain practices of the Central Government, the powers of the Provincial Councils have been reduced in the fields of education and health. Therefore, we envision bringing new laws regarding the implementation of powers of the Provincial Councils in these fields.”
“ We will present all these Ordinances and Bills to the National Council of Parliament. The responsibility of making the final decision is assigned to the National Council. Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIG) divisional boundaries are currently not based on provincial boundaries. Due to this, a number of practical difficulties have arisen. Therefore, we expect to determine the boundaries of DIG divisions according to the provinces.”
But he added that there will be no change in police powers, thereby saying that police powers will not be devolved, though, as per 13A, they should be.
Release of Lands
On the controversial issue of control over land, the President said: “We know that there are still unresolved issues related to land in the North. In Jaffna district, there are 3,300 acres of State Land including security camps. The extent of 100 acres that had been taken over for the Palali (Army) Camp was recently released. A decision has to be made regarding more land to be released for which discussions are being held with the Army and other parties. Discussions have also been initiated regarding the lands around other security camps.”
Drafts are being prepared to establish a National Land Council and a National Land Policy, the President said.
Tamils’ View on Land
According to Jaffna MP, M.A. Sumanthiran, the government had given back 90% of the private lands in the Northern Province that were seized during the war. But there are still thousands of acres of “public lands” (lands for the use of public facilities) still with the government which need to be returned to the local authorities or the Provincial Councils, he added.
According to another Jaffna MP, C.V. Wigneswaran, except for 100 acres the balance of 3000 acres of people’s lands had not been returned. He also said that the total amount of public or State land to be returned is 60,000 acres. Sumanthiran was not sure how Wigneswaran got that figure but said that if the Northern and Eastern Provinces were taken together, the total figure would be even more than 60,000 acres.
Pitfalls
President Wickremesinghe is seriously considering the full implementation of the 13A, but the political parties of the majority Sinhalese community are either non-committal or totally opposed to it. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, on whose support the Wickremesinghe government survives, is silent on the issue, though in the past, its founder-leader Mahinda Rajapaksa had even proposed to go beyond 13A and had spoken about the possibility of giving powers over land if not the police, to the provinces.
The main opposition party, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is sitting on the fence even though it is an informal ally of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is divided. Its leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is against it but Dr.Harini Amarasuriya, a party MP, is for it.
However, Sri Lanka’s most influential constituency, the Buddhist clergy, is against the 13A being implemented in full. According to Jaffna MP C.V.Wigneswaran, the Mahanayake Theros had stated in a letter that by granting Land and Police powers together with the right to administer archaeological sites and places of religious worship to the Provincial Councils, Tamil separatism would get a fillip.
END
The post Lankan Tamils propose pruning of Governor’s powers appeared first on NewsIn.Asia.
Source: NewsAsia
