Chairperson of Human Rights Commission resigns

Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Dr. Deepika Udagama tendered her resignation from the post.

She has informed the decision to final Constitutional Council meeting of the Eighth Parliament yesterday (03).

Accordingly, she will be withdrawing from her duties as the Chairman of HRCSL from September 01.

The Constitutional Council appreciated the role played by her in elevating the status of the commission. 

Chairman Karu Jayasuriya informed the Constitutional Council that the Human Rights Commission is rated as one of the best in the world and that he would like to convey the appreciation to the Chairman and the members of the commission for the exceptional achievement.

The Constitutional Council met for the last time today under the chairmanship of Karu Jayasuriya held at the Speaker’s official residence last afternoon.

Chairman of Constitutional Council Karu Jayasuriya informed that this would be the last Constitutional Council meeting that he would be chairing and thanked Prime Minister and the members of the council for the support extended during his tenure.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, along with former members of Parliament Mahinda Samarasinghe and Bimal Ratnayake were present at the meeting.

The Constitutional Council considered the nominations received for the vacancies that exist in the Public Service Commission, Human Rights Commission and the office of the Reparations and decided to further consider the nominations at the next meeting. The Chairman informed the members that due to the small window exist from this meeting to the next Parliament it is better for the new Chairman and the members to decide on the nominations.

The Council also considered the quarterly reports received by the Finance Commission, the Delimitation Commission, the Audit Service Commission and the National Procurement Commission. 

Civil society representatives Javed Yousuf and Naganathan Selvakumaran, Secretary-General of the Constitutional Council and Secretary-General to the Parliament Dhammika Dassanayake were also present at this meeting.