Vasu wants land powers devolved By Niranjala Ariyawansha-Sunday, 29 Sep 2013 Minister of National Languages and Social Integration, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, plans to present the proposal made by the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) to equally distribute power over State lands between the Central Government and the Provincial Councils, to the Special Parliamentary Select Committee on amendments to the 13th Amendment, when it meets on Wednesday (3 October). The APRC headed by Prof. Tissa Vitarana proposed in its final report, "All State land entitlement should be equally distributed between the government and the Provincial Council, under the authority of a Land Commission." The Supreme Court last Thursday (26) delivered three judgments and held that land is a subject matter of the Central Government and that the Provincial Councils shall administer control and utilize lands, in accordance with the laws and statutes governing the lands. Minister Nanayakkara, expressing his views on the recent Supreme Court judgment, which stipulated that State lands fall under the sole authority of the Central Government, said that in spite of the above judgment, the Legislature can make laws relating to any matter, and that the laws can be changed when necessary. He further emphasized that the position of his party on the land power allocation remains unchanged, irrespective of the contrary views expressed by the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the National Freedom Front (NFF), two coalition partners in the ruling party. Nanayakkara said he was against devolving powers only to the Northern Province, disregarding the eight other provinces in the country, said he is unaware when his resubmitted proposal will be taken up for discussion in the Parliamentary Select Committee.

Government firm on land powers

September 29, 2013

Sri Lankan provincial councils, including the Tamil-dominated Northern, will not have discretion over land and police matters and they will have to operate within the existing limits of power, the Press Trust of India quoted a government spokesman as saying.

“Provincial councils would have to operate within the existing limits (of powers),” Minister of Information and government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.

The Northern Chief Minister-elect K.C. Wigneswaran was no stranger to these limitations of powers for provinces as he was a judge of the Supreme Court, Mr. Rambukwella said.

His comments came as the main Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) met in Colombo on Sunday to deliberate on the future functioning of the Northern Provincial Council.

He said this week’s Supreme Court determination that land powers are the preserve of the Central government would invalidate the TNA’s claim for land-controlling powers in the north.

The Supreme Court on Thursday annulled an earlier Appeal Court ruling that provinces have the right to exercise land powers.

“It is very clear now, the government can’t devolve land powers by contravening the constitution,” Mr. Rambukwella said.

The TNA won 30 out of 36 seats in last week’s first-ever Northern Provincial elections in 25 years in the former war-torn region.

Their campaign was based on a programme to force the Central government into fully implementing the 1987 India-backed 13th Amendment.

The councils were created under the 13th Amendment, a byproduct of the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord.

However President Rajapaksa’s nationalist allies say unfettered powers to provinces would lead to Tamil-minority dream of separation of the island.