The next sitting of the Constitutional Assembly will be held on Monday in the Chamber of Parliament.

The Constitutional Assembly was appointed for the purpose of deliberating and seeking the views and advice of the people on a new Constitution for Sri Lanka and preparing a draft of a Constitution Bill for the consideration of Parliament.

The first interim report of the Steering Committee was presented to the Constitutional Assembly by PM Ranil Wicremesinghe in the capacity of Chairman of the Steering Committee earlier.

The report is a compilation of the six sub-committee reports on Fundamental Rights, the Judiciary, Law & Order, Public Service, Public Finance and Centre-Periphery Relations. These reports have not as yet been considered by the Steering Committee and will be taken up for consideration together with views expressed thereon when preparing its Final Report to the Constitutional Assembly.

The Steering Committee is engaged in directly deliberating on core subject areas pertaining to the nature of the State, form and structure of government, principles of devolution, religion, electoral reforms and land. The Second Interim Report of the Steering Committee will be based on these deliberations and is to be presented to the Constitutional Assembly on 10th December 2016.

The Interim Reports do not constitute final decisions of the Steering Committee and the contents of both the Reports are to be debated by the Constitutional Assembly. The debate is due to commence in January 2017.