GAMMANPILA CHALLENGES 20A IN SC

Joint opposition (JO) MP Udaya Gammanpila yesterday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a ruling that the 20th Amendment to the Constitution required the approval of the people at a referendum because it violated Articles 3, 4 and 30 (ii) of the Constitution.

He told the media that according to Article 83 of the Constitution, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution could not be passed in Parliament without a referendum.

“For a referendum there should be a two-thirds majority in Parliament. At this stage, only the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is in favour of the 20A,” the MP said. “We hope to defeat this amendment.

We have 70 members in the JO and need the support of another five to defeat it.”

He said the United National Party

(UNP) was using the

To have a referendum there should be a two-thirds majority in Parliament. At this stage only the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is in favor of the 20A.

JVP as a cat’s paw to introduce the 20A so that the presidential system could be abolished. “The 20A aims at federalizing the country. If the country accepts it, there will be a lot of issues in terms of its stability,” the MP said. “Federalism is not suitable to a country like Sri Lanka because we are a small country.”