Any Member of the Public may visit the public galleries of Parliament either as a group or individually on any sitting or non-sitting day. Visits are arranged for 30 (Thirty) minutes duration between 9.00 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. on non-sitting days and till the end of the sessions on any sitting day.
Unless Parliament otherwise decides, Parliament shall meet in two alternate weeks in each month commencing after the first Sunday of each month and shall sit on the Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays of the first and third of such weeks. Parliament does not ordinarily sit on Saturdays and Sundays and other holidays and the sittings of Parliament are usually held from 1.00 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and from 10.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. On some days the sittings might be extended beyond 7.30 p.m. During the budget period, generally, the allotted hours of sittings shall be 9.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 1.00 p.m. to 7.00 p.m. and may subject to change from time to time.
At present Parliament Sittings are held from 10.00 a.m to 5.30 p.m vide a Motion approved in Parliament to suspend the related Standing Orders.
In order to visit the Public Galleries, permission needs to be obtained from the Serjeant-at-Arms. Such a request may be made by contacting the Parliament directly or by completing and forwarding an Inquiry Form. In your inquiry you would have to furnish the following details;
Once your details have been processed the Serjeant-at-Arms would contact you to confirm your request and in turn would issue the pass to enter the Parliamentary Complex.
Permission will be granted to visit the Parliament on each working day from 9.00 a.m. to 3.30 p.m and on Sitting Days beyond 3.30 p.m. until the Sitting of Parliament is over. On Weekends (Saturday/ Sunday) or Poya days or on other Public holidays, passes will not be issued to visit the Parliament. Further, on the days the Gallery is limited for special invitees, passes will not be issued to visit the Parliament.
Unless Parliament otherwise decides, Parliament shall meet in two alternate weeks in each month commencing after the first Sunday of each month and shall sit on the Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays of the first and the third of such weeks. However, the Parliament may, from time to time, decide not to sit on above mentioned days or to meet on days other than such days.
There can be instances, when passes issued to visit Parliament have to be cancelled without prior notice. At such instances, steps will be taken to inform the relevant parties of such cancellations as much as possible.
Parliament is scheduled to sit from 1.00 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and from 10.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. However, if Parliament otherwise decides, the times of Sitting of Parliament may vary.
Vehicles coming to Parliament with permission obtained as per Paragraph 2 above or vehicles transporting school children coming to view Parliament and other visitors to Parliament should enter the Car Park located in the Restaurant premises beyond the playground in front of the Parliament. Before that, if there is any prior permission obtained to visit Parliament, it should be presented to the Police Officers on duty at the check point at that location. If not, the relevant person should establish his/her identity. The vehicle may enter the Car Park only after satisfying those requirements.
Visitors coming by vehicles other than buses transporting students in school uniform should approach the security check point at Jayanthipura as mentioned in Paragraph 9 above. They will be subjected to body search there and you should extend your support to the security personnel for such security searches.
Buses carrying students in school uniform will be directed by the Police Officers from this Car park to the relevant check points for body search. School children and teachers and parents accompanying them will be subjected to body search there and the buses too are searched. Thereafter, subsequent to giving the necessary instructions, the school children and the persons accompanying them are sent back to the bus and subject to relevant security search and recording of information, the bus is sent to the Public Entrance of the Parliament Building with a Police Officer to accompany them via Jayanthipura Security Check Point. Fullest support should be extended to the Police officers and the Parliament Security Officers for this.
After the students and the rest of the group get off the bus at the Public Entrance to Parliament, the bus is sent back to the aforesaid parking place via the Jayanthipura Main Entrance with the Police Officer who accompanied them in the bus. The bus shall be parked there until called back. One part of the vehicle token card issued there shall be kept by the driver whereas the other part shall be retained by the Principal or the Teacher -in -Charge of the group. It shall be totally prohibited to park these vehicles in the Parliament premises or along the access road to Parliament.
Once you arrive at the Public Entrance back after watching Parliament, the Police Officers, who are on duty there shall take steps to call your bus to that place using the aforesaid token. On such arrival the bus is sent to the Public Entrance along with the Police Officer, who accompanied the group earlier, via Jayanthipura Security Check Point subject to necessary security check-ups and recording the necessary details.
When leaving Parliament premises, the bus has to be driven via Jayanthipura Main Entrance and once the accompanying Police Officer gets off the bus, the bus may exit the Parliament premises.
Visitors to Parliament are not allowed to use any other entrance except the Jayanthipura Entrance. Also the Visitors to Parliament accompanied by a Member of Parliament or a Member of the Staff of Parliament shall use only the Jayanthipura Entrance. Subsequent to the confirmation of the identity and the body search, the visitor may travel up to the Public Entrance by the vehicle in which he/she turned up or using the shuttle bus service of Parliament. It is totally prohibited for these visitors to proceed to any other entrance in Parliament.
Visitors and the groups of students clad in school uniforms, who come to watch Parliament without prior permission are also able to travel up to the Public Entrance subject to the aforesaid arrangements and they are able to obtain a special yellow colour pass from the reception counter close to that place to watch Parliament subsequent to the confirmation of their identity. A white colour pass is issued to the visitors and the school children, who come with prior permission.
It is totally prohibited to enter any place except the Parliament Gallery using these passes.
Provisions relating to Admission to the Parliamentary Complex; the Security Arrangements and the facilities provided in respect of the Public Officials visiting Parliament for various official purposes
Facilities have been made available to call the vehicle back on departure.
of details of officials visiting Parliament from certain Ministries/ institutions or requests for obtaining permission, the officials visiting Parliament, the Staff of Parliament and the Police Officers face inconveniences in checking documents for directing those officials beyond the main entrance of Parliament. Therefore, it is requested that;
The annual passes are issued to the Secretaries to the Ministries in the following manner to facilitate the Public Officials, who come to Parliament to enter the Public Officials’ Box on Sitting Days / to participate in Parliamentary Committees or other Parliamentary Committees or for various official purposes. Arrangements have already been made to issue the said passes for the current year.
A request with the signature of the relevant Minister or the relevant Secretary to the Ministry should be forwarded to the Serjeant-at-Arms for these annual passes to be issued.
In addition to the passes issued to the Public Officials stated in the above paragraph, annual passes are issued in the following manner to the personal staff of the Cabinet Ministers, who are entitled for a Minister Room in the Parliament Building. Arrangements have already been made to issue the aforesaid passes to the respective officers for the current year.
A request with the signature of the relevant Minister or the relevant Secretary to the Ministry should be forwarded to the Serjeant-at-Arms for these annual passes to be issued.
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