Govt group’s nominees to Parliamentary Select Committee

Government group has submitted the names of 7 members to the Secretary General of the Parliament as nominees for the Parliamentary Select Committee.

The Secretary to the Leader of the House of Parliament has directed the letter containing the seven nominees to the Parliamentary Secretary General.

Accordingly, UPFA MPs Dinesh Gunawardena, S.B. Dissanayake, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Wimal Weerawansa, Thilanga Sumathipala and Udaya Gammanpila have been nominated to the Select Committee.

Earlier today (21) the Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena stated that the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) would submit the finalized list of nominees to the Secretary General of the Parliament during the course of the day.

However, a crisis situation had emerged regarding the appointment of the members of the Parliament Select Committee.

This is pertaining to the issue over the political party from which the highest number of parliamentarians should be elected to the Committee.

Commenting on this regard, Leader of the House had stated that higher opportunity should be created for the incumbent government when appointing members for the Select Committee, as it holds the parliament majority at present.

Meanwhile, the Leader of the House has expressed his gratitude to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya for deciding to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee, although delayed, to the newly formed government, in which Mahinda Rajapaksa holds the premiership as appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena.

This was mentioned in a letter addressed to the Speaker.

He has requested the Speaker to appoint the aforementioned seven nominees to the Select Committee, which consists of a total of 12 members.

If the Speaker intends to appoint more than 12 members to the committee, the Leader of the House would submit more nominations for the Select Committee, the letter further read.