Legal problem over Lotteries Board being assigned to Ravi?

Ravi Karunanayake

Will the allocation of the National Lotteries Board to Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake create a legal problem? Or has it already?

Some sources believe it would citing the National Lotteries Board Act No. 11 of 1963. They say that the Interpretation Section of that Act is Section 22 which specifically states: “The Minister means the Minister to whom the subject or function of Finance is assigned by the President.”

“Thus, under the statute, the minister who can be in charge of the National Lotteries Board is only the Minister of Finance,” this source said arguing that the Government Gazette under which the subject was assigned to Karunanayake is subordinate legislation subject to Parliamentary law.

“Hence there is a statutory/legislative issue about the National Lotteries Board being allocated to the Minister of Foreign Affairs,” the sources said. “Under the statute, only the Minister of Finance can be in charge of it.”

(Source: The Island)