A tense situation arose in Parliament today when Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa raised concerns over the Speaker’s decision on the No Confidence Motion (NCM) submitted against the Deputy Minister of Defence, Aruna Jayasekara.
Addressing the Parliament today, Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne said that there is no provision in the Constitution for a No-Confidence Motion against a Deputy Minister, and as such, the motion is not in order and cannot be accepted in its present form.
Commenting on the decision, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa noted that parliamentary conventions such as those outlined in Erskine May and Kaul & Shakdher mention that while Standing Orders do not explicitly address the status of a Deputy Minister as part of the Executive, this silence does not imply that a no-confidence motion cannot be brought forward.
He pointed out that even though there is no specific mention of such motions against ministers in the Standing Orders, the absence of reference should not be interpreted as a prohibition.
“According to Article 46(1) of the Constitution, a Deputy Minister exercises executive powers, and therefore, bringing a no-confidence motion is a recognized practice under the Westminster tradition. Furthermore, under Article 45(3), there is constitutional scope to present such a motion within a broader legal framework,” MP Premadasa emphasized.
He further said that if the Speaker refers to established parliamentary precedents, it would be possible to bring a no-confidence motion against a Deputy Minister.
MP Premadasa urged that the Attorney General’s advice and reports provided by the secretarial staff be tabled and utilized, and that the Opposition be granted the opportunity to present its position to Parliament.
A group of Opposition MPs submitted the No-Confidence Motion against Deputy Defence Minister Aruna Jayasekara to the Speaker in August this year, citing serious concerns over his alleged involvement and conflict of interest in the investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.
The motion raises alarm over Jayasekara’s role as the Commander of the Security Force (East) during key incidents linked to the Easter attacks, such as the Vavunathivu police killings and the Sainthamaruthu explosion. (Newswire)
