Cabinet Office says no Cabinet rank for non-ministers

The Office of the Cabinet of Ministers has said there have been no 'Cabinet rank' appointments made so far, while reiterating that there is no specific provision in the Constitution for such appointments of "Cabinet rank officials".

In a response to the Right to Information (RTI) application filed by the Sunday Times, the Cabinet Office Information Officer, W.K. Weerawardana, said that according to the records available at his office, no government official or diplomat had been appointed as a 'Cabinet rank' officer.

The office also made it clear that in terms of Article 44 of the Constitution, the President has the power to appoint members of the Cabinet from among the Members of Parliament (MP) alone. Therefore, there is no specific provision in the Constitution to issue such appointments to any officials or diplomats as claimed recently.

In recent months, there has been a controversy over the claims that Cabinet rank had been given to Milinda Moragoda who was appointed as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India.