“A Reflection on 13th Amendment to the Constitution”. by Prof A. Sarveswaran : (Recorded Event)

The Youth Empowerment Committee of the RPSL Consortium initiated a webinar on “A Reflection of 13th Amendment to the Constitution” – a crucial topic nowadays in Sri Lanka. Prof. A. Sarveswaran, a Professor at the Department of Private and Comparative Law, Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, delivered the lecture on the above topic. He pointed out the salient features of the 13th Amendment. This was well received by the audience.

As Prof. Sarveswaran pointed out the prime objective of this Amendment was to establish a regime for devolution of power to “units of devolution” (provinces) within that structure. Features of 13th Amendment do manifest characteristics of substantial devolution of powers which is the objective of the Amendment itself. But when considering the substance of the 13th Amendment it is controversial, as Professor highlighted, whether it has provided meaningful devolution and autonomy to devolved units because 13th Amendment itself contains provisions which hinder such meaningful devolution of powers. He stressed further that the 13th Amendment can provide in some extend room for substantial devolution of powers by establishing legislative, executive and administrative autonomy within the given sphere of powers if implemented successfully.