New Constitution:

Draft expected next month

By Manjula Fernando

The Steering Committee of the Constitution Assembly is expected to submit a tentative draft of a new Constitution by next month.

A senior member of the Steering Committee said they have tabled the six sub-committee reports that dwelt into the six key areas of constitutional reforms; fundamental rights, the judiciary, public finance, law and order and centre-periphery relations. The 21 members of the steering committee headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were currently discussing the electoral system, the executive and principles of devolution and consensus has been reached on a majority of the proposals.

Asked if they have drafted any articles of the preliminary draft he responded in the negative, “Not a single article has been drafted. We cannot draft until clear decisions are taken,” he said.

The steering committee has held a total of 28 meetings so far.

He said, the work on the final draft will begin after obtaining the views of the constitutional assembly. The Parliament was converted into a constitutional assembly on April 5 this year to with the aim of enacting a new constitution for Sri Lanka under the ongoing reconciliation process.