Revival Bill passed despite raging rivalry - Govt. even rejects suggestion to consider counter p...

Govt. even rejects suggestion to consider counter proposals from existing owners

By Chamitha Kuruppu
Despite strong opposition by majority outside the Parliament the Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and Underutilised Assets Bill was passed in the House yesterday with the Government gaining the upper hand.
After much commotion during its debate the controversial Bill brought in by the Government as urgent legislation secured approval with 122 votes for and 46 against.

The main Opposition United National Party, Tamil National Alliance and Democratic National Alliance voted against the Bill and the Jathika Hela Urumaya abstained. During the debate which lasted seven hours there was pandemonium at one point, forcing Speaker Chamal Rajapakse to suspend sittings at 3.10 p.m. for half an hour. This was after the Opposition raised a point of orders claiming the Bill was in violation of Clauses 3, 4, 1 of the Constitution.  The stand taken by the Opposition was despite the Supreme Court ruling that the Bill wasn’t in conflict with the Constitution.                       
UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, parliamentarian Joseph Michael Perera, Palitha Range Bandara, Dr. Harsha de Silva, Ajith Perera and TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran argued against the bill.
Several suggestions made by the Opposition MPs such as John Amaratunga (remove entities which are going concerns), Dr. De Silva (defer takeover by a month by providing aggrieved parties to submit new business proposals) and Kabir Hashim (to change wording to land given by the state from land given to enterprises) were rejected by the Government at committee stage.  These proposals had won lot of sympathy from MPs whilst they were also among suggestions made by the business chambers.
Ministers Basil Rajapakse and Jagath Pushpakumara from the Government spoke extensively for the bill. Pushpakumara considered as the prime mover of the Bill could only be heard briefly as he was relentlessly shouted down by a charged up Opposition MPs.
Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapakse who defended the Bill said that President Mahinda Rajapakse has assured that no private property will be acquired under the Bill. He said the move was only to ensure creation of maximum socio-economic value from the specified underperforming enterprises and underutilised assets especially land to private sector.
UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa raised objections claiming the bill was   unconstitutional and unethical and therefore should not be debated at all.
UNP parliamentarian Wijedasa Rajapakse argued that the Parliament should have been consulted respective Provincial Councils of the land properties that will be taken over through the bill before presenting it in Parliament.
JVP parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayaka questioned how the parliament could debate a bill that is being discussed in the Supreme Court.
With the Bill passed Rajapakse administration now has power to take over assets of 37 firms including two listed companies – Hotel Developers Lanka Plc and Pelwatte Sugar Industries whilst the latter and another entity Sevenagala Sugar Industries are going concerns.or Confidence, Attracting Investment:  A Golden Opportunity for the Government see tomorrow’s FT