28 August 2020 04:01 pm
While claiming that it was against the Constitution to spend money from the Consolidated Fund without parliamentary approval, National Peoples’ Power leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said today, the government should present a special motion in Parliament with a two-third majority and obtain covering parliament approval for using funds of the Consolidated Fund between April 30 and August 20.
He told Parliament that if this unconstitutional act was allowed to go unnoticed, it would be a bad precedent.
“No one can spend funds of the Consolidated Fund without approval of Parliament. Government has used state funds for the period from April 30 to August 20 without such approval. According to the Constitution, the President has powers to use state funds for three months from the date of commencing the new parliament. As such, he can only use funds from August 20 to November 20,” he said.
Mr. Dissanayake said the government has also violated the Constitution by revising taxes and obtaining loans without approval of Parliament.
“The government has no powers to revise taxes or obtain loans without parliamentary approval. When former finance minister Ravi Karunanayake tried to amend the VAT without parliamentary approval, Bandula Gunawardane went to court against it stopped the revision of the VAT,” he said
He said Rs. 174 billion had been allocated to the defence ministry through the Vote on Account of Rs. 1745 billion and said there was no defence minister to take responsibility for such a huge allocation.
“The President is functioning as the defence minister unofficially, which is against the Constitution. Government should reveal to Parliament who the defence minister was,” he said. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)