Motion to remove Deshabandu: NPP says Wijeyadasa’s legal concerns unfounded

Deputy Minister of Labour Mahinda Jayasinghe, and spokesman for Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremaratne, yesterday (01) emphasised that there was absolutely no basis for concerns expressed by former Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, with regard to a resolution handed over by the National People’s Power (NPP) parliamentary group seeking the appointment of a committee of inquiry to pave the way for the removal of IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon.

They said they were going ahead with the motion handed over to the Speaker under Section 5 of the Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act No. 5 of 2002.

Then President Ranil Wickremesinghe with the blessings of the Constitutional Council appointed Tennakoon as the 36th IGP.

An NPP delegation, led by lawmaker Jayasinghe, handed over the resolution to the Speaker on 25 March. The NPP delegation included Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs Eranga Gunasekara and MPs (Dr.) (Ms.) Kaushalya Ariyarathne, and Attorney-at-Law U.P. Abeywickrama.

Deputy Minister Jayasinghe said that their move was in line with the procedure in place in respect of removing the IGP and the Attorney General. The NPP acted swiftly in the wake of IGP Tennakoon, wanted in connection with the alleged illegal raid on the W 15 Hotel, at Weligama, surrendering to Matara court.

Immediately after the handing over of the resolution, the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa declared their support for the NPP move.

Both the Deputy and the Speaker’s spokesman said that they were surprised by the former Justice Minister’s declarations regarding what the former Minister called legal obstacles to the NPP’s course of action.

Dr. Rajapakse, in his statement, essentially questioned the MPs power to hand over such a resolution and the Speaker’s authority to accept it. The former Justice Minister also examined whether any useful purpose would be served by the NPP’s move.

Deputy Minister Jayasinghe said that having studied the relevant Act, they were going ahead with the resolution. Now that the Speaker has accepted the resolution, the next step would be to appoint a three-member committee, lawmaker Jayasinghe said, adding that it would be led by a Supreme Court judge named by the Chief Justice. The other members would be the Chairman of the Police Commission and a senior administrative official appointed by the Premier and the Opposition leader, MP Jayasinghe said.

Former lawmaker Rajapakse challenged the NPP resolution basically on four main points: (1) Against the backdrop of Supreme Court suspension of Deshabandu as the IGP pending hearing of the FR case against his appointment, he is only Senior DIG now (11) The NPP couldn’t resort to action on the basis Deshabandu remains the IGP (111) In terms of 2018 Standing Orders 91 (E) Parliament cannot debate an issue currently dealt in court. Therefore, the Speaker cannot accept a resolution that proposed debate/discussion contrary to the relevant Standing Orders and (IV) Taking into consideration that the Supreme Court has suspended Tennakoon how could a committee headed by a Supreme Court judge recommend his removal?

Acknowledging that the Supreme Court couldn’t challenge Parliament, Dr. Rajapakse pointed out that in case the proposed committee, headed by a Supreme Court judge, recommended the removal of Tennakoon, it meant that the Parliament didn’t recognise the suspension imposed on the top police officer by the SC last July.

Deputy Minister Jayasinghe said that he consulted their Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara in that regard and was confident the course of action taken by the ruling party was on track.

By Shamindra Ferdinando