Sri Lanka's new constitution: What it must contain – Part 2

PRESIDENT Disanayake must establish robust constitutional safeguards to protect regional autonomy from central encroachment.

- By Pitasanna Shanmugathas

A new constitution must described as "a constitutional distribution of legislative and executive authority and allocation of revenue resources between the national and the regional orders of government, providing for areas of exclusivity and autonomy for each order." This clear division is essential for preventing the ambiguities and overlaps that have undermined previous devolution arrangements.

Critically, as Jayampathy Wickramaratne explained, the constitution must ensure "the centre being unable to encroach without further constitutional amendment." This protection is essential as Tamil communities need assurance that powers once devolved cannot be arbitrarily reclaimed. As Saravanamuttu noted, the 1995 proposals sought to create a situation where "you were giving the regions powers that the centre could not take back. So you had a constitutional guarantee about a certain amount of autonomy."

Dr. Tiruchelvam identified several essential safeguards in his analysis of the 1995 proposals. First, the proposed written constitution would "not be unilaterally alterable," requiring regional consent for amendments affecting devolution or the distribution of powers. As he explained, "no bill for the amendment or repeal of the provisions of the chapter relating to devolution or relating to the distribution of subjects and functions between the centre and the region shall come into operation in respect of a region unless such act or provision has been approved by a resolution of a regional council established for that region."

Second, Tiruchelvam notes that the proposals established "an umpire to rule on disputes between the centre and the region" in the form of an arbitral tribunal, providing an independent mechanism for resolving intergovernmental conflicts.