Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed parliament that he was notified by the Supreme Court that several clauses of the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution were inconsistent with the Constitution and it required a referendum to legally establish the proposed Bill.
Hence, he told parliament that following a referendum, the said clauses will require a two third’s majority in parliament and the decision of the people will then be endorsed and certified by the President in accordance with article 80 of the Constitution.
The Speaker ordered to include the determination of the Supreme Court in the record of today’s parliamentary proceedings. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides for holding the elections for all provincial councils on the same date was presented in Parliament on August 23.
According to the amendment, the election of the members to all provincial councils should be held on a single date.
It was proposed that the dissolution of provincial councils will be decided by Parliament and if the term of any PC ends before the due date, it will be extended up to the day of election.
The 20th Amendment to the constitution was published in the government Gazette on July 28, 2017.