Office of Missing Persons Bill: Vote to be taken tomorrow

The government, yesterday, decided to advance the date of enactment of the Office of Missing Persons Bill in Parliament to Friday, it is learnt.

Earlier it had been scheduled for debate during the third week of August. However, the government decided to have the debate today and vote tomorrow on its enactment.

The government advanced the date because the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill which was listed for these two days lapsed following a court ruling.

The Joint Opposition said it would vote against the bill. Its parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardane said he needed more time to study the bill because it contained dangerous provisions.

Meanwhile, the Sectoral Oversight Committee on the subject has proposed two amendments to the bill.

The bill, if enacted, would provide for the setting up of an Office of Missing Persons (OMP) to deal with the cases. (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)