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2025-05-23

News Categories : Committee News 

Sectoral Oversight Committee on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection approves the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill

  • The Office for Reparations is calling for a report containing all information on the compensation payments in 2023.
  • Committee's approval for the annual reports of 3 government institutions.

 

The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, presented to Parliament for its second reading today (23.05.2025), received the approval of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection.

This approval was granted at a meeting held recently (20th) in Parliament under the chairmanship of Hon. (Dr.) Najith Indika, Member of Parliament and Chair of Sectoral Oversight Committee on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection.

During this Committee meeting held, officials representing the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General’s Department, and the Department of Prisons elaborated on the necessity of this Bill. They pointed out that it would allow suspects to be connected to court proceedings through modern audio-visual technology without being physically brought to court, and that summons could be sent to witnesses via email. This, they explained, would help reduce the life-threatening risks involved in transporting accused individuals to court and also save a significant amount of money currently spent on ensuring their security. Accordingly, the Bill received the approval of the Committee.

Additionally, the Committee also approved the annual reports for the years 2022 and 2023 of the Sri Lanka Judges’ Institute, for the years 2021 and 2023 of the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board, and for the years 2022 and 2023 of the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration.

The annual reports for the Office for Reparations for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023 were also reviewed. It was observed that, in 2023, priority was given to compensating individuals who had submitted claims. The Committee particularly noted that individuals eligible for compensation prior to 2023 were given lower priority. The committee inquired from the relevant officials whether compensation had been paid to Members of Parliament for damages, to which they responded that compensation was granted only to members of the general public. They further stated that a total of Rs. 753 million had been paid as compensation to 142 individuals.

Accordingly, the Committee instructed that a report containing the names of the compensated individuals, the amounts paid, and the dates of payment be submitted to the committee within a week. It was decided that, upon receipt of this report, the respective annual report would be reconsidered.

This meeting was attended by Hon. Members of Parliament and committee members Chandana Sooriyaarachchii, Thushari Jayasinghe, Attorney-at-Law, Darmapriya Wijesinghe, Major General (Rtd.) G.D. Sooriyabandara, Dr.) Sellaththamby Thilaganathan, and MKM Aslam, as well as several officials. Additionally, with the permission of the Committee chair, non-committee members Ajith P. Perera, (Dr.) Elayathamby Srinath, and (Dr.) Ramanathan Archchuna also participated in the meeting.



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