Mr. Speaker [The Hon. (Dr.) Jagath Wickramaratne]

¶ 01 The Parliament met at 9.30 a.m., the Hon. (Dr.) Jagath Wickramaratne in the Chair.

¶ 02 MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

¶ 03 PUBLIC SECURITY PROCLAMATION

¶ 04 The following Message has been received by me from His Excellency the President:

¶ 05 President of Sri Lanka My No.: PS/CSA/00/7/19(/3/01 25 September 2025

¶ 06 Hon. I.W.M. Jagath Wickramaratne Parliament of Sri Lanka

¶ 07 Hon. Speaker,

¶ 08 In terms of the powers vested in me by Section 12 of the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter 40), having considered the necessity of ensuring public peace, I have made an Order calling out all members of the Armed Forces specified in the First Schedule for the purpose of maintaining public order in the areas specified in the Second Schedule.

¶ 09 Accordingly, in terms of Section 2(3) read with Section 21(2) of the said Ordinance, I hereby notify Parliament of the same.

¶ 10 Sgd. President

¶ 11 ANNOUNCEMENTS

¶ 12 RULING ON VOTE OF NO-CONFIDENCE AGAINST DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE

¶ 13 I wish to make this Announcement in furtherance to the Announcement made by me on 10th September, 2025 on the Motion titled the “No-Confidence Motion” submitted by a group of 32 Members of Parliament in the Opposition, including the Hon. Leader of the Opposition, in Parliament on 12th August, 2025 against the Hon. Major General (Rtd.) Aruna Jayasekera, MP and Deputy Minister of Defence.

¶ 14 At the outset, I wish to remind this House of Standing Order No. 76(1), which states that the Speaker in Parliament shall be responsible for the observance of the Rules of Order in Parliament and his/her decision upon any point of Order shall not be open to appeal and shall not be reviewed by Parliament except upon a Substantive Motion made after notice.

¶ 15 However, considering the queries raised in Parliament, I wish to further substantiate the factors highlighted in the previous Announcement for ruling the said Motion out of order.

¶ 16 The 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Standing Orders of Parliament are silent on moving a No-Confidence Motion against an individual Cabinet Minister, Deputy Minister or any other holder of portfolios. The only existing provision on No-Confidence Motion is Article 49(2) of the Constitution, which provides only to move a No-Confidence Motion against a Government.

¶ 17 However, No-Confidence Motions have been moved against the Prime Minister and individual Ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers notwithstanding the said silence in the Constitution and the Standing Orders, thus questioning the legal basis of such precedents.

¶ 18 It is noted that in Parliamentary context, the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, the Deputy Chairman of Committees, the Leader of the House of Parliament, the Chief Government Whip, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Opposition Whip are considered Parliamentary office-bearers and that a Substantive Motion of this nature may appropriately be brought against them.

¶ 19 I wish to emphasize that in the international context, No-Confidence Motions have been allowed only in respect of the Government/Council of Ministers as a whole — Erskine May: “Treatise on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament”, 25th Edition and M.N. Kaul and S.L. Shakdher, “Practice and Procedure of Parliament”, 8th Edition. Further, M.N. Kaul and S.L. Shakdher highlight that a Motion of No-Confidence can be moved only against the Council of Ministers as a whole and not against any individual Minister, as per the Indian constitutional provisions regarding the collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers to the Lok Sabha.

¶ 20 Similarly, Articles 42, 43 and 44 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka provide for the collective and individual ministerial responsibility of the Cabinet of Ministers.

¶ 21 In Sri Lanka, at present, Deputy Ministers have been appointed under Article 46(1) of the Constitution to assist the Ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers. However, the Ministers of the Cabinet of the present Government, acting under Article 46(2) of the Constitution, have not delegated any power or duty pertaining to any subject or function to the Deputy Ministers. Nevertheless, I wish to place on record that the Deputy Ministers function in terms of Standing Order No. 32(2) on behalf of the Ministers in compliance with Article 46(1) of the Constitution read with Article 74 of the Constitution.

¶ 22 Due to aforesaid reasons, I rule that the Motion is out of order in terms of Standing Order No. 27(3).

¶ 23 In the alternative, I wish to note that the incidental criticism of conduct of Members of Parliament or particularly, Members in their capacity as office-holders in the House of Commons including the Speaker is permitted only through a Substantive Motion — Erskine May, “A Treatise upon the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament”, 25th Edition — and in the UK practice, Censure Motions can be tabled criticizing a Government policy or a Minister. M.N. Kaul and S.L. Shakdher, “Practice and Procedure of Parliament”, 8th Edition, states that Censure Motions can be moved against the Council of Ministers or an individual Minister or a group of Ministers for their failure to act or not to act or for their policy and may express regret, indignation or surprise of the House at the failure of the Minister or Ministers.

¶ 24 Accordingly, I wish to inform this House to explore the possibility of submitting a Substantive Motion instead of the current Motion in issue, in view of the national importance of the matters relating to the Easter Sunday Attack stated therein and as opined by the Attorney-General, the specific facts in the Motion have no direct bearing on the cases pending before courts.

¶ 25 MEETING OF COMMITTEE ON PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS

¶ 26 A meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Business is scheduled to be held today, Thursday, 25th September, 2025 at 12.00 noon in Committee Room No. 28. All Hon. Members are requested to attend.

¶ 27 Now, we will move to Papers presented.