Powers of parliamentary committees including COPA and COPE to be increased

A motion to amend the Standing Orders and increase the powers of all parliamentary committees including COPE and COPA will be tabled in the Parliament soon, says the Leader of the House, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Addressing the parliament yesterday, the minister said the government will submit a draft amendment to the Standing Orders in a manner that empowers Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) as well as the other committees.

“At present the Committee Chairs do a great service by traditionally submitting a report to Parliament,” the minister said further, adding that the powers needed to go beyond that are not enough. 

“As the Leader of the House, I will discuss and hand over the draft to you to obtain those powers to the relevant Committees. We hope that we will be able to move more effectively as a result,” the Leader of the House said further.