Propos ed People’s Bank (Amendment) Bill Opposition leader request Speaker to postpone the voting

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

Leader of Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa in a letter addressed to Speaker had requested that the voting of proposed People’s Bank (Amendment) Bill scheduled for today be postponed.  

In his letter which he had copied to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella and Chief Government Whip Gayanatha Karunatilleke, Mr. Rajapaksa had requested that the debate and the voting should be postponed as there are concerns expressed by the employees of the Bank. He had also mentioned in his letter that the proposed legislation will affect People’s Bank’s stability.  

“It is more appropriate to subject the Bill to a broad discussion. Therefore we request that the voting on the Bill scheduled for today be postponed,” Mr. Rajapaksa had said in his letter. The Bill was debated on August 22 this year while the vote was postponed following a request made by the opposition. 

 
He noted that the primary objective of these amendments is to increase the authorized capital of People’s Bank from Rs.1 billion to Rs.50 billion similar to Bank of Ceylon.