(எம்.ஆர்.எம்.வசீம், இராஜதுரை ஹஷான்) அரசாங்கத்தின் சார்பில் வழக்குகளை நடத்தும் ஒரு சுயாதீன பொறிமுறையாக 'சுயாதீன அரசாங்க குற்றவியல் அரசுத்தரப்பு அலுவலகம்' ஒன்றை நிறுவுவதற்கான புதிய சட்டத்தை அறிமுகப்படுத்துவது குறித்து ஆராய்ந்து அறிக்கை சமர்ப்பிக்கவும்,தேவையான சந்தர்ப்பங்களில் தற்ப…
(M.R.M. Wasim, Rajadurai Hashan) A technical expert committee headed by High Court Justice and President’s Counsel Yasantha Kothagoda has been appointed to study and submit a report on the introduction of a new law to establish an ‘Independent Government Criminal Prosecution Office’ as an independent mechanism to conduct cases on behalf of the government, and to make recommendations for introducing necessary amendments to the laws currently in force, where necessary. Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara stated that the Independent Government Criminal Prosecution Office will be appointed soon based on the report of this committee. He stated this while responding to questions raised by Kalutara District Parliamentarian Ajith P. Perera of the Samagi Jana Balasinghe Party during the oral question period in Parliament on Friday (26). He further stated that, The ‘Prosperous Country – Beautiful Life’ policy statement has promised to appoint a ‘Special Parliamentary Ombudsman’ (Complaints Officer) to enable parties affected by the activities of the Attorney General’s Department to submit their grievances. Under the ‘Prosperous Country – Beautiful Life’ government’s policy statement, five key activities have been proposed under the strategic direction of strengthening the Attorney General’s Department. Accordingly, a technical expert committee has been appointed under the chairmanship of High Court Justice and President’s Counsel Yasantha Kothagoda to study and submit a report on the introduction of a new law to establish an ‘Independent Government Criminal Prosecution Office’ as an independent mechanism to conduct cases on behalf of the government, as a mechanism to eliminate delays in the judiciary at the present time, and to make recommendations for introducing necessary amendments to the laws currently in force, where necessary. Furthermore, the Government’s policy statement proposes the appointment of an Ombudsman for the purpose of providing a forum for grievances by parties affected by the activities of the Attorney General’s Department. However, all these activities mentioned in the policy statement are interrelated. Therefore, when implementing any action related to a promise, the manner in which it is implemented may have an impact on the requirements and functions expected from other promises. In such a case, before taking action on promises that are affected but not yet implemented, a re-assessment of its necessity should be made. In this case, after the Government has decided on the angle from which the policy regarding the establishment of the Attorney General’s Department and the Government’s Chief Criminal Prosecution Office will be implemented, the need for the appointment of an Ombudsman as mentioned in this question and the powers and functions of the Ombudsman should be reconsidered during its implementation, and therefore the Government has not yet decided to make that appointment. What is the role of the Attorney General and what are the powers of the Attorney General when establishing the Criminal Prosecution Office? The issue regarding the Ombudsman is to inform if there is any impact on the powers and functions of the current Attorney General. However, without distinguishing the powers of the Criminal Prosecution Office and the powers of the Attorney General, we cannot think about how to establish the Ombudsman at this time. That is why, only after receiving the report on the division of powers of the Criminal Prosecution Office, the Ombudsman has to be established under that system. We are working on it. The final report is not yet available. This is the reason for not appointing the Ombudsman, he said.