BY METHMALIE DISSANAYAKE Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Constitutional Council yesterday (7), gave the National Police Commission (NPC) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara 14 days to solve all disputes between them.

The Council met with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya presiding at the Parliament Complex to discuss the reports submitted by the independent commissions and the administrative problems of the commissions.

One of the key issues taken up for the discussion was the ongoing dispute between the NPC and the IGP where the latter declined to follow some recommendations of the NPC about the promotion of Kilinochchi Senior Superintendent of Police Palitha Siriwardena, the promotions of 129 officers subjected to political victimization, the removal of Officer-In-Charge (OIC) Narammala from his post, investigations into the educational qualifications of Deputy Inspector General of Police Nalaka de Silva and the suspension of the OIC of the Statistics Division.

The NPC complained to the Council earlier that they could not compel the IGP to implement their recommendations. The NPC Chairman had complained that with the IGP refusing to implement their recommendations, the NPC is unable to take any further action to ensure the implementation of its proposals as it does not have the powers to do so.

In response, IGP Jayasundara informed the Council that he could not implement some recommendations on various grounds. One of the Police officers in the list of 129 directed by the NCP for promotions is known to have close connections with the previous Government although the list mentions that he was politically victimized by the same Government.
This has created serious doubts regarding the process used by the NPC to recommend promotions for these officers, the IGP said.

The Council then informed both parties to come to a conclusion on the matters within 14 days and to inform the Council of their progress.