The Government is to submit the 20th Amendment to the Constitution to Parliament within a period of two weeks.
“We are waiting the constitutionally required two weeks after gazetting before submitting it to Parliament,” Minister of Justice Ali Sabry PC told The Sunday Morning.
Meanwhile, Secretary General to Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake, explaining the process of the enactment of an amendment, said the first reading of the draft amendment would be followed by a week’s period for any objections before the Supreme Court.
“Once the draft amendment has been submitted to Parliament, the first reading will take place, after which there will be a period of one week before the second reading.
This period of one week is for any citizen to challenge the draft amendment before the Supreme Court.”
He said thereafter, the second and third readings would be conducted.
“The second reading will be followed by the committee stage debates and then the third reading will take place before Parliament takes a vote,” Dasanayake said.
With regard to a vote, the Government said it would be up to the Opposition whether a vote is called for, as the Government already has the two-thirds majority in the House.
“We will leave it to the Opposition to decide if they want a vote or not,” Cabinet Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told The Sunday Morning.
(The Morning)