The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development and Leader of the House of Parliament
The Minister cited Standing Orders 29(1) and 29(2), noting that privilege matters take precedence only under specified procedures and require prior notice to the Chair and leave to suspend business. He argued that general criticisms of Ministers’ or Members’ performance should not be treated as continuing privilege questions, as doing so would disrupt sittings. He said complaints, including alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct, should follow established procedures and be applied consistently to all Members.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I will read Standing Orders 29(1) and 29(2).
¶ 02 Standing Order 29(1) states that a matter directly concerning the privileges of Parliament takes precedence over all other business set down for that day, except during a division for declaring the vote. Standing Order 29(2) requires that any Member intending to raise such a matter must first inform the Chair and obtain leave to suspend business.
¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, criticisms that Ministers or Members fail in their duties can be raised in many forums; that is not an ever-ending privilege question. If we allow Standing Order 29 to be used in this way, it will be impossible to conduct the sittings. There are established procedures, including for alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct. These Standing Orders were adopted earlier and should be followed consistently. If such leave is granted, it must be applied equally to all 225 Members; otherwise the House cannot proceed.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 11 November 2025 ·No. 22786 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development and Leader of the House of Parliament. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 11 November 2025. No. 22786. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/11840