Amendments to increase COPE, COPA powers

COLOMBO (News 1st); Leader of the House, Dinesh Gunawardena today (26) handed over the draft amendments to increase the powers of Parliamentary committees, including COPE and COPA, to the Speaker.

Accordingly, the Leader of the House handed over the draft amendment to be made to the Standing Orders of Parliament to increase the powers of the Committees on Public Accounts (COPA) and the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).

Previously, he made a statement with regard to these amendments. stating that they will be brought to empower those Committees not only to submit reports, but also to move forward with regard to the information revealed in the reports.

Pointing out that the committees currently do a great service to the Parliament, Leader of the House Gunawardena stated that they should be empowered to move beyond the mere presenting of a report.