The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake

¶ 01 COMMITTEE ON PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS

¶ 02 Hon. Speaker, I move:

¶ 03 “That, notwithstanding Standing Order 115, for the First Session of the Tenth Parliament, the Committee on Parliamentary Business shall consist of the Speaker (Chair), the Deputy Speaker, the Deputy Chairman of Committees, the Leader of the House, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Government Whip, the Chief Opposition Whip, and twelve (12) other Members nominated by the Committee of Selection.”

¶ 04 By way of clarification, Hon. Speaker, as you informed us, the Opposition requested additional representation on this Committee. Accordingly, at the first meeting with Party Leaders, in which the Hon. Leader of the Opposition participated, we agreed to increase the Opposition representation by one. Subsequently, the Opposition parties renewed their request.

¶ 05 Given that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is the largest Opposition party, followed by the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), then the New Democratic Front, thereafter the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), the All Ceylon Makkal Congress, and other parties and independents with single Members, we decided, upon your intimation and in view of practical constraints, to add one more Opposition slot. The responsibility of allocating Opposition slots among Opposition parties lies with the Hon. Leader of the Opposition. Our objective in increasing numbers is to include the maximum possible range of Opposition parties, though it is not feasible to accommodate all 12 Opposition parties on this Committee.

¶ 06 We also propose that when inclusion is not feasible here, Members may be accommodated in other opportunities such as Adjournment Motions, and by engaging the Chief Government Whip for fair time allocation. Therefore, we propose to increase the Committee’s membership to 16, ensuring decisions can still be taken efficiently.