By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe
Politics are now nothing more than a means of rising in the world - Samuel Johnson Boswells Life of Johnson.
The National Police Commission, was inaugurated in November 2002 on
the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. under the 17th
Amendment to the Constitution. It became defunct due to the failure to
appoint new
Commission members after the terms of the Commission and its Chairman
lapsed in April 2009.
The Parliamentary Council constituted under the
Eighteenth Amendment, which met on Wednesday 15th February 2012 has
approved the names proposed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the
seven-member National Police Commission. The reactivation of the
National Police Commission was one of the recommendations by the Lessons
Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). President’s Counsel and
former High Commissioner to Australia, Senaka Walgampaya has been
appointed Chairman of the Commission. The other nominees approved by the
Parliamentary Council are Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera, D. Dissanayake,
Mrs. Charmaine Madurasinghe, R. Sivaraman, M.M.M. Mowjood and the former
Chairman of ITN Newton Gooneratne.
Weaker
It must be noted here that the Parliamentary Council appointed under
the Eighteenth Amendment is much weaker than the Constitutional Council
which existed under the Seventeenth Amendment, which was repealed.
Article 41B (1) under the repealed Seventeenth Amendment stated that:’No
person shall be appointed by the President as the Chairman or a member
of any of the Commissions except on a recommendation of the
(Constitutional)Council.’ Among the seven councils listed was the
National Police Commission. Article 41(A) of the present Eighteenth
Amendment states: ‘The Chairman and the members of the Commissions and
the specified offices (as mentioned in column no.1) shall be appointed
by the President. In making such appointments the President shall seek
the observations of a Parliamentary Council.’ Thus the Constitutional
Council had the power to make recommendations whereas the Parliamentary
Council has the power only to make observations. The Amendment permits
the President to ignore the observations of the Parliamentary Council
and make appointments to key positions as Article 41A(6) empowers the
President to proceed to make the appointments in the absence of
observations being communicated within one week.
Repealed
The powers of the National Police Commission which existed under the
Seventeenth Amendment in Chapter XVIII a under Articles 155(G),(H)(I)(K)
and (L) have been repealed by Articles 28 up to 32 of the Eighteenth
Amendment. Thus, the powers of appointment, promotion, transfer,
disciplinary control and dismissal of Police Officers other than the
Inspector General of Police, which were vested in the Commission,
including the exercise of its powers of promotion, transfer,
disciplinary control and dismissal in consultation with the Inspector
General of Police as mandated by Article 155G (1) (a).of the Seventeenth
Amendment have been removed.
Under Article 155FF the Commission is empowered to establish
procedures to entertain and investigate public complaints and complaints
of any aggrieved person made against a Police Officer or the Police
Service and to provide redress in accordance with any law enacted by
Parliament. Article 155FFF empowers the Commission to make rules for
such matters which require rules to be made, which rules shall be
published in the Gazette. Thus the powers of the Police Commission have
been greatly reduced and limited to the powers mentioned above rendering
it toothless. The Commission may with the expertise of its Chairman and
other members acquire further powers or expand the ambit of its powers
by the promulgation of such rules and regulations through the said
provision.
It is understandable that the appeals to the Administrative Tribunal
established under Article 59 available to any police officer aggrieved
by any order relating to promotion, transfer, or any order on a
disciplinary matter or dismissal made by the Commission have been
terminated by the repeal of Article 155L.as the Commission has no such
powers with the amendments made by the Eighteenth Amendment. The
delegation of the powers of
appointment, promotion, transfer, disciplinary control and dismissal
of any category of police officer to the Inspector General or in
consultation with the Inspector General of Police to any police officer
subject to such conditions and procedures as may be described by the
Commission has been retained by Article 155 J(1) which has not been
repealed by the Eighteenth Amendment. Such delegation appears to be
mandatory in the absence of provisions empowering the Commission to
directly deal with such matters.
Reactivation
Senior Minister for Human Resources D.E.W. Gunasekara commenting on
the reactivation of the Police Commission said that. “The reactivation
of the Police Commission is important at this point as relations between
the police and the people are severely strained. The Police Commission
has a big responsibility to create an environment for the police to act
independently and make the Police Department an active independent
body.” Speaking further, the Minister said that: “The Police Commission
should also realise that though they are appointed by the Government
they are responsible to the people of this country and not the
Government. This is the basic fact they need to keep in mind when
carrying out their duties as members of the Independent Commission”,With
the greatly restricted powers vested in the National Police Commission
whether it could meet the aspirations of the Minister appears to be a
distant dream. As stated by Samuel Johnson and quoted at the outset, the
politicians in Sri Lanka appear to be using politics as a means of
rising in the world by increasing the powers of the executive presidency
to such heights as seen in the promulgation of the Eighteenth Amendment
to the Constitution so as to render the Institutions set up for the
welfare of the public virtually powerless.
The writer is an Attorney at Law
LS