According to the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2196/27 dated 06.10.2020, Government Bills can only be submitted by a Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Once the Bill has been drafted by the Legal Draftsman, it should be referred to the Attorney General, and the Attorney General will examine the constitutionality of the contents of that Bill.
After obtaining the certificate of Attorney General, the Bill should be submitted to the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers.
After obtaining the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers, the relevant Ministry should take action to publish the Bill in the Gazette Notification.
In accordance with Article 78 of the Constitution;
“Every Bill shall be published in the Gazette at least seven (07) days before it is placed on the Order Paper of Parliament."
The Bill is then to be tabled in Parliament for the first reading.
However, in terms of Article 121 of the Constitution, where the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court has been so invoked
no proceedings shall be had in Parliament in relation to such Bill until the determination of the Supreme Court has been made, or the expiration of a period of three weeks from the date of such reference or petition, whichever occurs first.
The following documents should be submitted in terms of presenting a Bill in Parliament.
According to the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2196/27 dated 06.10.2020, Orders, Rules and Terms can only be submitted by a Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Orders/Rules/Regulations enacted under the provisions of the Constitution or any other Act fall into any of the following categories.
According to the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2196/27 dated 06.10.2020, Resolutions / Determinations can only be submitted by a Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Prior approval of the Cabinet of Ministers should be obtained for all Resolutions / Determinations requiring the approval of Parliament.
The following documents should be submitted to this office when submitting a Resolution / Determination for the approval of Parliament.
2According to the Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 2196/27 dated 06.10.2020, Supplementary Estimates can only be submitted by a Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Any Ministry seeking the approval of Parliament for an additional financial provision for any unforeseen expenditure should first obtain the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers and submit its request to Parliament as a Supplementary Estimate in accordance with Financial Regulation 74.
When presenting a Supplementary Estimate to Parliament, the following documents should be submitted to the Secretary General of Parliament through the Secretary to the Leader of the House.
In the event that any subject matter which falls directly within the purview of His Excellency the President to be presented in Parliament, then the Hon. Prime Minister should take action in Parliament in this regard.
The following procedure should be followed with regard to such business of the present Government to be presented to Parliament:
In addition to the hard copies mentioned above, two (02) CDs containing soft transcripts that have been PDF in trilingual into three Folders should also be submitted.1
(The Chief Accounting Officer, Accounting Officer and other relevant officers should be signed at the relevant places.)
A sample layout of the cover page is shown in Annexure 1.
Annual Reports and Account Statements of Corporations, Boards and Statutory Institutions established under various Acts should appear before Parliament in accordance with the provisions of the relevant Act.
Further, each such Annual Report and Account Statement should be submitted to the relevant Committee.
Some of the Annual Reports need only to be tabled in Parliament and other reports have to be approved by Parliament, in accordance with the provisions of the relevant Act.
Therefore, the Secretary to the Ministry should be aware of the category under which the proposed Annual Report is to be submitted and should inform this office as well.
The documents required for the submission of Annual Reports to Parliament under each category is mentioned below.
All the institutions should ensure to print these reports at the lowest possible cost.
Prior to handing over the performance report, should call 011 2777467 and make an appointment with the relevant subject officer on the due date and time to visit there.
8.1 Annual Reports to be approved by Parliament
In addition to the hard copies mentioned above, two (02) CDs containing soft transcripts that have been PDF in trilingual into three Folders should also be submitted.1
A sample layout of the cover page of the printed copy and soft copy is shown in Annexure 1.
8.2 Annual Reports required only to be tabled in Parliament
The following documents should be submitted to this office, when submitting the reports required only to be tabled in Parliament.
A. A copy of the Cabinet Memorandum and Cabinet Decision granted approval for submission of Annual Reports and Account Statements to Parliament;
B. Letter signed by the Cabinet Minister, addressed to the Secretary General of Parliament through the Secretary to the Leader of the House requesting that necessary measures to be taken to table the Annual Report in Parliament and to be referred to the relevant Committee of Parliament for consideration;
C. Copies of the Annual Report with financial and audit information should be submitted to the Office of the Leader of the House, as two hundred and seventy (270) copies, if the report is printed in one book in trilingual, or two hundred and ten (210) copies in Sinhala, fifty five (55) copies in Tamil and ninety five (95) copies in English, if it is printed separately in each language.
In addition to the hard copies mentioned above, two (02) CDs containing soft transcripts that have been PDF in trilingual into three Folders should also be submitted.1
A sample layout of the cover page of the printed copy and soft copy is shown in Annexure 2.
During the Committee Stage Programme of the Budget, each Ministry should submit the Progress Report of that Ministry at least two weeks before the due date of the expenditure head of the relevant Ministry for debate.
B. Copies of the Progress Report should be submitted to the Office of the Leader of the House, as two hundred and seventy (270) copies, if the report is printed in one book in trilingual or two hundred and ten (210) copies in Sinhala, fifty five (55) copies in Tamil and ninety five (95) copies in English, if it is printed separately in each language.
In addition to the hard copies mentioned above, two (02) CDs containing soft transcripts that have been PDF in trilingual should also be submitted.1
A sample layout of the cover page of the printed copy and soft copy is shown in Annexure 3.
The above report should be submitted with the signature of the relevant Minister or Secretary to the Ministry and the following documents should be submitted to the Office of the Leader of the House of Parliament along with the same.
A. The letter addressed the Secretary General of Parliament requesting that the necessary action be taken to table the reports of the Independent Commissions and other Government Institutions under His Excellency the President in Parliament, under the signature of the Hon. Prime Minister and the reports of all Ministries and Departments under the signature of the relevant Cabinet Minister;
B. Copies of the above reports should be submitted to the Office of the Leader of the House, as two hundred and seventy (270) copies, if the report is printed in one book in trilingual or two hundred and ten (210) copies in Sinhala, fifty five (55) copies in Tamil and ninety five (95) copies in English, if it is printed separately in each language.
In addition to the hard copies mentioned above, two (02) CDs containing soft transcripts that have been PDF in trilingual into three Folders should also be submitted.1
C. The name of the relevant Ministry/Department/Commission and the year should be mentioned in the cover page of the printed copy in trilingual of Sinhala, Tamil and English.
D. When there is more than one institution under the supervision of the relevant Ministry, all the relevant observations should be contained in one report in trilingual and should be submitted with the list of those institutions.
Name of the Institution……………………….
Submission of observations of Hon. Minister and steps taken with regard to the
report tabled by the Committee on Public Accounts in terms of Standing Order
No. 119(4)/120(4)/121.
Other reports (not mentioned above - eg reports submitted by the Commission, reports published by the Ministry on a particular issue/matter) should be submitted as follows.
A. Letter addressed to the Secretary General of Parliament through the Secretary to the Leader of the House with the signature of the relevant Cabinet Minister requesting that necessary action be taken to table it in Parliament: (It should be clearly stated in the letter whether this report should be submitted to approval of the Parliament or to be tabled.)
B. Reports should be submitted to the Office of the Leader of the House, as two hundred and seventy (270) copies, if the report is printed in one book in trilingual or two hundred and ten (210) copies in Sinhala, fifty five (55) copies in Tamil and ninety five (95) copies in English, if it is printed separately in each language.
In addition to the hard copies mentioned above, two (02) CDs containing soft transcripts that have been PDF in trilingual into three Folders should also be submitted.1
C. The name of the relevant Ministry/Department/Commission and the year should be mentioned in the cover page of the printed copy in trilingual of Sinhala, Tamil and English.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 157 of the Constitution, International Agreements/Treaties between the Government of Sri Lanka and a Foreign Government must be submitted to the approval of the Parliament.
The following documents should be submitted to this office, when submitting the Agreements/Treaties to Parliament.
<A. A copy of the Cabinet Memorandum and Cabinet Decision granted approval for submission of same to Parliament;
B. A copy of the certificate of the Attorney General on whether the Agreement/Treaty is in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution;
(In presenting the above Agreement/Treaty, it should be clearly stated in that letter whether it should be submitted to Parliament or to be tabled.)