The Steering Committee's interim report on the proposed new Constitution was presented to the Constitutional Assembly this morning (21).
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who is the Chairman of the Steering Committee, tabled the report.
The Steering Committee report has been compiled based on findings of 6 sub-committees and public consultations.
The six sub-committees covered the following areas:
Fundamental Rights
Judiciary
Law and Order
Public Finance
Public Service
Centre-Periphery Relations
Making a special statement, the Prime Minister said this report is only a draft and the final document will be prepared after having public consultations.
The first chapter of the report has suggested that Sri Lanka should be a unitary state and the chapter also discusses the theoretical aspect of devolution of power.
The Prime Minister also said that the foremost position given to Buddhism, will not be changed through this exercise.
In addition, he said that the TNA has conveyed that they are ready to agree to the conditions in the Interim report, if the two main parties of the Unity Government would agree to those conditions.
Meanwhile, NFF member Padma Udayashantha who withdrew recently from the Constitutional Assembly was present at the Assembly today.
Representatives from SLFP, TNA, Joint Opposition, JVP and SLMC also expressed their views during the Assembly meeting.