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President has no power to grant elephants: Dy. Minister

19 Mar 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Tourism and Sports Deputy Minister Wasantha Senanayake said yesterday that it was illegal for any president to make grants of elephants on ‘Sannas Pathraya’ as no legal provisions had been vested in them by the constitution to do so.

Mr. Senanayake said he had sought advice from the Attorney General on whether a President were empowered to make grants of elephants in terms of Article 33(D) of the constitution, and that he had been told by him that the President was not given such powers to make any grants and dispositions either by the constitution or in the Flora and Fauna Ordinance.

Mr. Senanayake said he had informed President Maithripala Sirisena in written about the matter. “So many elephants have been granted by former presidents starting from President J.R. Jayawardene in 1978 and ending with Mahinda Rajapaksa. They may have done it without having knowledge of the legal provisions to do so as no one had pointed it out before. In terms of Article 33(D) of the constitution, a President can only make grants of lands and immobile properties. Nowhere in the constitution has the granting of elephants being mentioned, he said.

When asked whether he was going to take action against the grants of elephants that had been made by previous Presidents, minister Senanayake said he was not going to cancel them because it was not practical since it had been done since 1978 and added that he would make sure that the incumbent president would do no such a thing.

Mr. Senanayake said the ministry would not register any elephants that had been granted by any President in the future whereas it had been done in the past.

Mr. Senanayake said he was against the export of elephants to foreign countries as the elephant density was dwindling in the country and added that the practice should be banned. “We should stop exporting elephants as the elephant density in the country is dwindling and it is difficult to find elephants even for cultural events today. India had already banned elephant exports,’ he said. (Ajith Siriwardana)

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President has no power to grant elephants: Dy. Minister

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