DRAFT ONLY

Project Proposal
For the Establishment of a Project Office
For the Preparation, Consolidation and Publication of a Revised Edition of
the Legislative Enactments of Sri Lanka

1) Background

In conformity with the Gazette Extraordinary Notification No. 2281/41 dated 27 th May 2022
issued by H.E. the President, the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional
Reforms is entrusted with re-documentation and consolidation of laws. Further, to guarantee
the right to access to justice and promote the rule of law, the Ministry of Justice, Prison
Affairs and Constitutional Reforms has taken an initiative among others to prepare a
Consolidation and Revision of the Legislative Enactments of Sri Lanka which is a timely
requirement.

However, several attempts have been made to initiate the required process. The Cabinet
Memorandum No. 14/0163/501/007 dated 31/12/2013 was submitted seeking approval for a
proposal relating to the Consolidation and Revision of the Legislative Enactments. Based on
the Cabinet Decision, on 21st July 2014, the Project for Consolidation and Revision
commenced its work. However, due to the several reasons, the Project could not be
successfully completed. As such a further Cabinet Memorandum No.18/0427/731/008 dated
27/02/2018 was submitted seeking approval to extend the Project from 01/01/2018 to 31/12/
2023 for a period of six years but approval was granted only for a period of three years.
Nevertheless, the project was not implemented due to the several reasons which arose at that
time. In these circumstances the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional
Reforms is of the view that the process of consolidation and revision of the Legislative
Enactments should be expedited with utmost urgency.

Further, the last Revised Edition of the Legislative Enactments of the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka printed in 1980 was not approved in Parliament due to non-availability
of the Sinhala and Tamil translations. Therefore, it has been a long felt need to publish the
Revised Edition of the Legislative Enactments in all three languages

2) Justification

The Revised Edition of the Legislative Enactments Act, No.2 of 1956 was enacted in the
post-colonial era for the purposes of preparing a new and revised edition of the Legislative
Enactments of Ceylon in force on the 31 st day of December 1954. Since 1956 the said Act has
undergone an amendment only in 1961 for the preparation of supplements to the Revised
Edition of the Legislative Enactments of Ceylon. Several new Acts and numerous
Amendments to the existing Acts have been introduced to the legal system since the
consolidation of Legislative Enactments in 1956.

As certain provisions of the existing Act referred to above are outdated, it is appropriate to
repeal the said Act and introduce a new law for the preparation, consolidation, revision and
publication of a revised edition of the Legislative Enactments. The revised edition to be
published under the new Act would consist of all Acts including any amendments thereto
since 1956 and would be in force without any question whatsoever in all courts of justice.
The process of preparing, consolidating and publishing a revised edition of the Legislative
Enactments in Sri Lanka is a long process. Although the Legal Draftsman’s Department
possesses the expertise to carry out the mandate of the proposed Bill, lack of human
resources, heavy workload handled by them and the urgency of this matter impede the
implementation of this project by the Department.

Therefore, the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms has submitted a
Cabinet paper to draft a new Act for the purpose of preparing a new revised consolidated
Edition of Legislative Enactments of Sri Lanka as it is not possible to publish a revised
Edition of the Legislative Enactments under the existing Legislative Enactments Ordinance.
In this context, the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms has decided
to establish the Project Office to implement the above project successfully and within a given
time frame.

3) Outputs of the Project

Output i: Consolidation and Revision of the Legislative Enactments of Sri Lanka up to

a given date

Law should be easily understandable by all. However, when there are numerous amendments
to an Act, it becomes difficult to read and understand the Act as a whole. This impedes access
to justice. Therefore, legislation should be consolidated and revised so that it can be easily
comprehended by all. This enhances access to justice.

Output ii: Establishment of a Project Office under the Ministry of Justice, Prison
Affairs and Constitutional Reforms to implement the above important task within the
given time frame

Since consolidation and revision of all the laws up to date is a tedious task, it cannot be done
by the Legal Draftsman’s Department with the current workload that they have to tackle on a
daily basis. Therefore, in order to complete the task of consolidation, revision and publication
of the New Legislative Enactments it is important to establish a project office and appoint the
commissioners and recruit the staff and provide infrastructure facilities to complete the
consolidation, revision and publication of the English Legislative Enactments. The project
needs to be implemented by experienced officers who have extensive experience in
legislative drafting. It is a well-known fact that legal draftsmen are much in demand the
world over and there is a dearth of them. Thus, the project will be implemented by a
Commission consisting of five persons, four of whom have extensive experience in the Legal
Draftsman’s Department. The fifth will be a retired High Court Judge who is fully conversant
with the Tamil as well as the English language. It is also proposed to enlist the services of a
few consultants who will work on a part time basis to assist the Commission to bring out a
high quality product. While the entire Commission will be responsible for the final product,
the Chairman will finally check the product.

Output iii: Translate the revised edition of the Legislative Enactments into Sinhala and
Tamil languages

The Revised Edition of the Legislative Enactments published in English language must be
published in Sinhala and Tamil also in line with Article 18 of the Constitution.
Output iv: Conversion of the consolidated hardcopy of the manuscripts in the electronic
medium. (Data- entry)

Purchasing all the hard bound books of the revised edition of the Legislative Enactments can
bear a considerable amount of money and it is not practical to turn over the pages of a
physical bound book whenever a person wants to look for a relevant law. Therefore, it is
important to convert the hardcopy manuscripts in the electronic medium.

4) Project Period

Four Years from June, 2022 to June, 2025

5) Venue of the Project Office:

Rented Building to be identified in close proximity to the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs
and Constitutional Reforms

6) Relationship of project to the National Policy Framework

Special activities assigned under the “National Policy Framework - Vistas of Prosperity and
Splendour” for Access to Justice

7) Project Impacts, Outcomes and Outputs/

7.1 Project Impacts

Economic Legal Sector Development, Economic Development

Environmen -NA-
t
Social Access to Justice and uphold the rule of law

7.2 Project Outcomes

No Outcome Indicator/ Unit of Source

KPI Measure of Data
Y1 Y2 Y3

1 Publication of a revised edition % Number Project 30 70% 100

of Consolidated Legislative Consolidate s Office % %
Enactments of Sri Lanka up to d
a given date in all three
languages in print and in a
digital platform
KPI: Key Performance Indicator
 7.3 Project Outputs

N Output Indicator Unit of Source of Targets for project

o / KPI measure Data period
Y1 Y2 Y3
1 Establishment of a Project Office % Numbe
under the Ministry of Justice to r
100%
implement the above important
task within the given time frame
2 Consolidation and Revision of the % Numbe Project 30% 70% 100%
Legislative Enactments of Sri r Office
Lanka up to a given date
3 Translate the revised edition of the % Numbe 10% 50% 50%
Legislative Enactments into r
Sinhala and Tamil languages
4 Conversion of the consolidated 0% 0% 100%
hardcopy of the manuscripts in the
electronic medium. (Data- entry)

7.4 Planned Activities in Achieving Outputs

Activities
I. Identify the rented Building
II. Partition and networking
III. Furniture and Office Equipment
IV. Appointment of Staff

Activities for Output 1-3

Activities
V. Appointment of a Commission
VI. Enactment of an Act to provide for the Preparation and Publication of a Revised
Edition of the legislative enactments
VII. Revision of the Legislative Enactments
VIII. Arrangement of the grouping and sequence of the Legislative Enactments
IX. Typing of the English version of Consolidated and Revised legislative enactments
X. Translation into Sinhala and Tamil languages of all Consolidated and Revised
Legislative Enactments
XI. Revision of the Sinhala and Tamil Translations
XII. Typing of the Sinhala and Tamil versions of the Consolidated and Revised Legislative
Enactments
XIII. Proof reading of the typed version of the Legislative Enactments
XIV. Printing of the Consolidated and Revised Legislative Enactments
XV. Submission of completed Volumes to the Parliament in all three languages for the
approval
XVI. Conversion of the Consolidated hardcopy of the manuscripts to the electronic
medium (data-entry)
 8) Project Budget

Source of Total
Components Year1 Year 2 Year 3
Fund (Rs.mn)
Capital
I. Payment for Rented Domestic 16.57 11.00 11.5 39.07
Building (5,000 Sq.ft)
II. Partition and networking Foreign 20.00 - - 20.00

III. Furniture and Office Foreign 10.82 - - 10.82

Equipment
IV. Printing (Tentative) Foreign 0 25.0 25.00 50.00
V. Software Development Foreign 5.0 2.5 2.5 10.00
Recurrent
IV. Payment for the Staff Domestic& 62.82 62.82 62.82 188.46
Foreign
V. Administrative Cost Domestic 10.00 10.00 10.00 30.00
(Water Electricity, stationeries
& etc.,)
VI. Miscellaneous Domestic 12.00 12.00 12.00 36.00
Total Cost 137.21 123.32 123.82 384.35

8.1 Payment for the Project Staff

Post No. of Monthly Total Amount Per Total Amount for

Posts Allowance Month (LKR) 3 Years (LKR)
(Per
Officer)
(LKR)
Chairman 01 550,000 550,000 19,800,000
Commissioner 05 500,000 2,500,000 90,000,000
01 200,000 200,000 7,200,000
Secretary
Coordinating Secretary 01 100,000 100,000 3,600,000
Administrative Officer 01 75,000 75,000 2,700,000
Consolidation Officer 10 100,000 1,000,000 36,000,000
Translators (English / 08 60,000 480,000 17,280,000
Sinhala) (Sinhala / Tamil)
Management Assistant / 05 45,000 225,000 8,100,000
Typist
Office Assistant 02 35,000 70,000 2,520,000
Driver 01 35,000 35,000 1,260,000
Total 35 5,235,000 188,460,000
 Note: Staff will be appointed by the Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and
Constitutional Reforms on contract basis. Terms of Reference will be given to the
Officers on the basis of experience and qualifications relating to the field of law.

9) Financing Plan:
9.1Method of Financing

Financial Source Amount(Rs. Mn)

Domestic Fund 168.58
External Source
- Loan
- Grant** 215.77
Total 384.35
** External Source funding not yet finalized however, The Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs
and Constitutional Reforms is currently in discussions with Donor Agencies trying to get the maximum
amount from the External Resources.

10) Implementation Arrangements:

10.1 Executing Agency – Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional
Reforms
10.2 Implementing Agency – Project Office and Legal Draftsman’s Department