Category: Articles & Reviews

Issues in fully implementing 13A: Land powers The Island 15–2-2023) By C. A. Chandraprema Many of those who call for the ‘full implementation of the 13th Amendment’ believe that all State land should be completely under the control of the provincial councils. The actual extent of the devolution of land powers would depend on the language used in the text of the 13th Amendment, and the interpretation given to that text by the Supreme Court which has exclusive jurisdiction in respect of Constitutional matters. Provisions with regard to land are to be…

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Issues in fully implementing the 13th Amendment – Police Powers By C. A. Chandraprema (The Island 6th Feb 2023) While most provisions of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution have been implemented, sticking points have persisted with regard to two matters – the devolution of police and land powers. Appendix I of the Provincial Councils List in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution provides for the devolution of police powers. The implementation of these provisions will entail the division of the Sri Lanka Police Force into a National Police Division…

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Independence 75: Many unhappy returns? (By Tisaranee Gunasekara –   Daily FT)  Call it a no brainer. Whatever Queen Viharamahadevi, the legendary mother of King Dutugemunu, wore, it wouldn’t have been a Kandyan sari (osariya). So why dress up her statue in that garb, jewellery included? Not just any statue, but the one by the Ruwanweli Seya, her son’s most famous construct, and the place Gotabaya Rajapaksa chose to take his presidential oaths in 2019. When the story broke over the social media, the director general of the Archaeology Department took…

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Implementing 13A: Some thoughts The 13A requires the Government to establish a National Land Commission, which would be responsible for the formulation of a national policy, concerning the use of State land. This Commission will include representatives of all Provincial Councils. The Commission will have a Technical Secretariat, representing all the relevant disciplines required to evaluate the physical as well as the socio-economic factors that are relevant to natural resources management. National policy, on land, use will be based on technical aspects, but not political or communal aspects. by Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne,…

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Shameless coalitions ahead of LG polls The economic crisis and the resultant political upheaval that brought down the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime have created ridiculous political alignments.  In fact, the major part of the “credit” for the creation of those alignments should go to Gotabaya’s younger brother and his Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa. The alignments have now grown into political alliances with the approach of the local government elections that have now been scheduled to be held on March 9. Of these coalitions, the one between President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s party, the United…

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By Jehan Perera (The Island 24th Jan 2023) Time to overcome ethnic divide is now After much procrastination, the Election Commission has finally decided that local government elections will be held on March 9. The elections to these bodies had already been postponed by a year, as permitted by law. Postponing elections, beyond a year, would take the country into the murky realms of extralegal governance, which would pose a threat to democracy, by eroding the rule of law. The country is being propelled in the direction of elections. It…

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Why a Chinese ship’s arrival in Sri Lanka has caused alarm in India and the West August 19, 202211:01 AM ET Lauren Frayer npr COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — It all began 20 years ago, when China loaned Sri Lanka more than $1 billion to build a fancy new port — what would become its second-largest — on its southern coast. The Hambantota port, with its strategic location near busy Indian Ocean shipping routes, was touted as good for Sri Lankan commerce. But it wasn’t profitable, and the government defaulted on…

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