10 March 2023 11:14 am
State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe requested Deputy Speaker to advise relevant authorities not to proceed and take any action on the interim order given by the Supreme Court with regard to the Local Government election until the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics and Privileges concludes its hearing on the privilege issue raised by MP Premanath C Dollewatte.
Raising a privillege issue, Minister told Parliament that it is a serious offence to implement the interim order before hearing the privilege issue by the Parliamentary Committee on Ethics and Privileges.
He said the letter sent by the Chairman of the Elections Commission to the Finance Ministry with regard to the Interim order has further breached the privileges of the members of Parliament and requested the Deputy Speaker to refer the letter to the Committee on Ethics and Privileges and conduct an inquiry. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)