The swearing-in of new CMC members began on an inauspicious note on Tues day with different parties going different ways.
Newly elected Mayor Karu Jayasuriya finally took his oaths in the Mayor's chamber before retired Supreme Court Judge K.M.M.B Kulatunge, while the People's Alliance under K. Ganeshalingam chose to go before the Western Province Chief Minister Susil Premjayantha.
Early this month Mr. Jayasuriya had telephoned Chief Minister Susil Premjayantha and told him he wished to take oaths before the Chief Minister.
Mr. Premjayantha was cordial and co-operative with Mr. Jayasuriya and willing to administer the oath to the Mayor.
Mr. Jayasuriya later invited him to be present at the Mayor's chamber of the Colombo MC since it had been the tradition.
But Mr. Premjayantha told Mr. Jayasuriya he would prefer the ceremony be held at the Chief Minister's Office.
He pointed out that Mr Ganeshalingam, when he took oaths as Mayor, he had done so at the Chief Minister's Office .
Mr. Jayasuriya however insisted that the oath ceremony must be at the Town Hall.
He cited the case of former Chief Minister Susil Moonesinghe who came to the Mayor's chamber in 1991 to administer the oath to Ratnasiri Rajapakse.
Mr. Premjayantha also did not give in. He told Mr. Jayasuriya that if he did not wish to come to the CM's Office he could arrange his own ceremony.
Finally, Mr. Jayasuriya invited Mr. Kulatunge to the Mayor's chamber, for him to take oaths, while the other UNP members of the CMC would take their oaths before the Mayor.
This arrangement was conveyed to Mr. Ganeshalingam too. But the PA group decided to go to the Chief Minister.
Mr. Ganeshalingam hit out at the new Mayor accusing him of deliberately violating tradition. He pointed out how the new Mayor of Nuwara Eliya had come all the way to Kandy to take his oaths before the Central Province Chief Minister W. M. P. B. Dissanayake who is a member of the UNP. "Thus it is clear that the UNP was acting on party lines and not on principle" he said.
Since the PA group declined to take their oaths before the Mayor, Municipal authorities had to send an Assistant Secretary to the Chief Minister's Office with the required forms for the oath taking.
All said and done, the oaths fiasco could be linked to Mr. Ganeshalingam who broke tradition to take oaths as the 21st Mayor of the City.
Mr. Ganeshalingam nominated by his party, the UNP, took oaths before the W.P Chief Minister Susil Premjayantha in the presence of Health Minister A.H.M. Fowzie at the Chief Minister's Office.
Later, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told Mr. Ganeshalingam that he should keep to conventions. He said such thing had never been done in the past. All other Mayors had taken their oaths in the CMC premises.
When Mr. Ganeshalingam said it was arranged suddenly it was pointed out that he had time to inform a TV crew, but not to inform UNP leaders.
Mr. Wickremesinghe also said that in future all UNP Mayors should take their oaths in the Council itself and views of the UNP group should be sought as to who should be invited for the occasion.
As this problem swirls it is alleged that an attempt is being made by the PA group to run a parallel administration in the City.
Initially, Mr. Ganeshalingam had requested the Colombo Municipal Commissioner to allocate a room for the Leader of the Opposition.
It is learnt that Mr. Ganeshalingam has asked for the computer room opposite the Mayor's Chamber. When it was brought to the notice of Mr. Jayasuriya and Deputy Mayor Omar Kamil they pointed out that there was no provision for an Opposition Leader's Office in a Municipality according to the Municipal Ordinance. Thus Mr. Ganeshalingam's request was turned down. In 1991, A. H. M. Fowzie also made a similar request and it was turned down.
Meanwhile Mayor Jayasuriya has drawn up a hundred day programme to give the city a face lift. In a gesture of goodwill, the Mayor also paid a courtesy call on Chief Minister Premjayantha along with his Deputy. They discussed cadre requirements and ways of developing Colombo. The CM offered full co-operation.
Besides his role as Mayor, Mr. Jayasuriya was actively involved in taking the message of his leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on the PA-UNP accord, to Buddhist prelates. Though the Sangha showed some reservations at the beginning, most of them acknowledged the importance of the accord after Mr. Jayasuriya explained it in detail.
At the moment there is lot of hope and trust placed on Mayor Jayasuriya as an able administrator and many feel he would build a better Colombo.
Another subject of controversy is the Bill to set up a Broadcasting Authority to regulate the functions of private Radio and TV Stations.
The need for such an Authority had been mentioned some years ago and the D. B. Wijetunga administration set up a committee under Additional Secretary Chandra Wickramasinghe to study the matter.
The proposed Sri Lanka Broadcasting Authority is based on a report submitted by this Committee. This matter was also discussed during the All Party Conference and they stressed the need to set up a regulatory body for TV and Radio Stations. Now the UNP and other groups have challenged several provisions of the bill and the case is likely to come up before the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The UNP has asked the Supreme Court for a ruling that some provisions of the Bill are inconsistent with the Constitution and that it requires a two-third majority in Parliament and approved by the people at a referendum.
Among the undemocratic features cited by the UNP are the powers given to the Minister to appoint all members of the Broadcasting Authority, to cancel or suspend the licences of any private Radio or TV Station.
It is also understood that even the Government legal experts felt that some of these provisions could be inconsistent with the Constitution as far as fundamental rights are concerned.
The Attorney General's position however is that if anybody could propose better regulations for TV and Radio Stations, the Government would accept them. Now it is likely the Government would agree to amend some of the provisions of the Bill to bring it in line with fundamental rights to the freedom of expression and information.
However, the Attorney General's position is that any decision taken by the Authority will be subject to judicial review if any party is aggrieved by such decisions.
Others argue that though it is justiciable they would have to face enormous losses when the Court makes a decision after several weeks or months of a petition against decisions taken by the Authority.
The provision that TV and Radio Stations find most unacceptable is as follows:
7. (1) From and after the appointed date no person shall establish or maintain - a) a broadcasting station for the provision of radio broadcasting services; or
(b) a television broadcasting station for the provision of television broadcasting services.
to persons in, or outside Sri Lanka, except under the authority of a licence issued in that behalf by the Authority in consultation with the Director-General. In issuing or refusing to issue a licence, the Authority shall have regard to the current needs of the broadcasting industry and satisfy itself that the applicant has such technical, financial and professional qualifications as may reasonably be required for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a radio broadcasting station or a television broadcasting station, as the case may be.
(2) With effect from the appointed date, the power to issue licences for the purposes referred to in subsection (1) shall be exercised exclusively by the Authority and the provisions of section 17 of the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Act No. 25 of 1991 shall be read and construed as if the powers conferred on the Minister in charge of the subject of Telecommunications, by that section do not extend to the granting of licences for the purposes referred to in subsection (1).
(3) An application for a licence under subsection (1) shall be made to the Authority in the prescribed form.
(4) No licence shall be issued by the Authority to any person except after inquiry into the application.
(5) Every licence issued under subsection (1) shall be in the prescribed form and shall be valid until the thirty-first of December of the year in which it is issued, shall be issued upon payment of the prescribed fee, and shall be subject to the conditions set out in the First Schedule to this Act.
(6) A licence issued under this section shall not be transferable.
(7) The Authority may suspend or cancel any licence issued under subsection (1) if it is satisfied that the person to whom such licence was issued has contravened, or failed to comply with the conditions subject to which such licence was issued or any directions issued to him by the Authority under section 5 (g).
(8) The Authority may renew a licence issued under subsection (1), on application made in that behalf on the prescribed form and on payment of the prescribed fee.
(9) (a) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Authority in refusing to issue a licence under subsection (1), or refusing to renew a licence issued under subsection (1), or suspending or canceling any such licence, may appeal against such decision to the Court of Appeal within a period of fourteen days from the date on which such decision is communicated to him after having first obtained leave in respect of the same, from the Court of Appeal.
(b) The provisions of the Civil Procedure Code relating to leave to appeal and the hearing of such appeals to the Court of Appeal shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the making and hearing of appeals to the Court of Appeal under paragraph (a).
(10) Any person who establishes or maintains a radio broadcasting station or television broadcasting station in contravention of the provisions of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.
Another problem facing the PA is inter-party rivalry in local councils controlled by it. The groups, mainly PA's political allies took oaths separately in their respective local councils making the whole exercise a mockery.
The SLFP, the CP and the LSSP which constitute the People's Alliance in many places had fought among each other for the top or the second slot based on the number of preference votes. Lack of discipline among the persons concerned and their failure to arrive at a reasonable decision made it an utter mess.
In many places several individuals led protest marches claiming the top post.
In Hanguranketha also a similar incident took place where Minister S. B. Dissanayake's younger brother Saliya was involved.
It is alleged that his supporters disrupted life in the area after setting fire to the Pradeshiya Sabha building and damaging other state buildings, with shops and offices in the area closed. As the mobs went berserk, Minister S. B. Dissanayake was on a tour of Korea.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga who telephoned his brother Saliya when the incidents were raging asked him to stop the violence immediately. But he maintained that he was not involved.
The Police also kept away as far as possible since there was no proper directive from their superiors as to how they should act and all the mobs had a field day unleashing terror in the area.
As soon as Minister Dissanayake returned, Police Chief W. B. Rajaguru met him and the Minister said law and order should be implemented without fear.
He told the IGP that all culprits should be arrested immediately and dealt with according to the law.
While Minister Dissanayake visited his electorate on Thursday to get the legally appointed Chairman of the council installed, Police patrolled the area and riot squads were on alert.
Mr. Dissanayake, soon after swearing in the new Chairman of the Hanguranketha Pradeshiya Sabha said his party was considering disciplinary action against his brother and he would voluntarily give evidence against him to expel him from the Party.
He emphasised that violent politics would not be tolerated.
The Minister told friends the events over the past few days had put him in an awkward position, since he had to take certain decisions against his own family members.
Police have so far arrested eleven people over the incidents at Hanguranketha and are looking for several other suspects, including the brothers of Minister Dissanayake.
Minister Dissanayake's brother and seven other relatives of PA MPs contested the local elections, though the PA had decided that no relatives of MPs would be allowed to hold the No. 1. or No. 2 slots in any local authority.
When the Party arrived at this decision, Minister Dissanayake told President Kumaratunga that she personally should convey this message to his brother Saliya and she did.
Meanwhile the PA is also trying to address the issues of the plantation Tamils and Jaffna Tamils in Colombo whose vote went largely to the UNP in the local elections.
The PA believes it was a temporary set-back in the plantations and that together with Minister S. Thondaman it could secure the Indian Tamil votes.
Meanwhile Mr. Thondaman has directed his advisors to launch a workers' programme to educate them on the problems the estate Tamils are facing. Mr. Thondaman's policy is that he uses any government as a facility to achieve his targets.
Recently he said he used an umbrella when there was rain and a torch when were was darkness. He said he used the main political parties depending on the political climate.
"The reality is, we can't form a goverment. Therefore we must make use of the government in office. This is not understood by many."
Through the PA is of the view that the CWC would stand with it in any election, it is not clear at this stage whether the CWC would make such a commitment not knowing the mood of the up-country estate workers. However an election is due only next year when Provincial Council polls are held. Soon after that the Government might go for a General Election.
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