by Franklin. R. Satyapalan
The first statute passed by the Northern Provincial Council elected in September 2013 will be sent to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by the Governor G.A. Chandrasiri tomorrow, the governor said yesterday.
“The president will study the papers and perhaps seek an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court. Once a positive response comes back to me, I will give my assent (so that it becomes law),’’ he said.
There has been a consistent tussle between the governor and the NPC over laws passed by the council with the governor declining formal assent on the grounds that the Attorney General had advised that such laws were not consistent with the constitution.
The governor said that he has approved two statutes submitted by the Board of Ministers of the NPC relating to the collection of tax and stamp duties but had held up, on the advice of the Attorney General, a statute from the chief minister empowering him to directly collect funds from abroad.
Asked about holding back two financial statues presented six months ago by the Board of Ministers, the governor said there were many inaccuracies and he had sent them back for correction. Some of these had been corrected but there were matters that could create problems later and these had sent back.
There had been a couple of mistakes when the papers had come back for the third time. He had corrected these and given his assent.
Funds collected on stamp duties imposed in the province would go to 32 local bodies in the province.