Motion to remove PUCSL Chairman passed by Parliament

By Saman Indrajith

A motion moved by the government to remove the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Chairman Janaka Ratnayake was passed in Parliament with a majority of 46 votes yesterday.

The motion received 123 votes in favour and 77 votes against.

MPs of the SJB, SLFP, JVP-led NPP, Nidahasa Janatha Sabhawa and Uttara Lanka Sabhagaya voted against the government.

The motion, in accordance with Sri Lanka Public Utilities Commission Act No. 35 of 2002 for the removal of J.W. M. J. P. K. Ratnayake, the incumbent Chairman and the member of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, from the membership of the said Commission in terms of Section 7 of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka Act, was taken for debate suspending Standing Orders.

MPs Vadivel Suresh, Kumara Welgama and A.H.M. Fowzie voted for the motion with the government.

Minister Susil Premajayantha, moving the motion for the debate, said that the PUCSL was not an independent commission set up under the Constitutional provisions, and it was only a regulatory body set up through a separate Act of Parliament and, therefore, the provisions relevant to the independent commissions were not applicable to the PUCSL.

The motion was debated in Parliament from 10.30 am to 5 pm, with Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera commencing the debate, saying that five allegations were being levelled against the PUCSL Chairman. The debate was followed by a division.

Accordingly, following the vote, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena declared that the motion had been passed by an absolute majority.