President Maithripala Sirisena has given instructions to the relevant authorities on the implementation of a speedy procedure with stringent rules to control crimes, drug smuggling and the underworld activities.

The President also stressed the need of vesting necessary powers on the relevant authorities by expediting the essential legal reforms in this regard, the President’s Media Division said.

President Sirisena emphasized this during a special meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday (27) regarding the amendments to the Bills on the controlling of drugs, crime, and the minimization of road accidents.

During this meeting, the special attention was drawn on the legal issues pertaining to drug raids and the President scrutinized the progress of preparing legal procedures in relation to the special procedure implemented with the assistance of the Tri-Forces on drug raids, and instructed the Legal Draftsman’s Department to complete those tasks within the next two weeks.

President Sirisena also inquired into the progress of the works related to removing the legal obstacles against police officers when they are filling cases against suspects of illegal alcohol and drug raids, and he advised the officials to submit the report within the next week to the Cabinet.

Furthermore, discussions were held regarding making amendments for the penalties pertaining to drug offenses. Attention was also drawn to the changes that should be made in the prison sector.

The President emphasized the importance of all the institutions, including the Legal Draftsman’s Department fulfilling their respective duties to expedite these processes, including all legal amendments tasks, and instructed to hold a special discussion in another two-week to find out the progress of these activities.

During this meeting special attention was drawn regarding minimizing road accidents, and even though the Department of Motor Traffic introduced a ‘Point Base System’ for drivers in 2009 with the aim of minimizing road accidents, due to the technical problems, it has not been successful and the President also instructed to examine the possibility of implementing that method in a proper manner while removing the existing obstacles as well as to look into the possibility of introducing paying the fines through Electronic Payment Systems.

The President has also given instructions to follow a proper procedure to monitor the driving schools while standardization of the driving schools.

-PMD