Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Jagath Wickramaratne, endorsed the certification on the Samurdhi (Amendment) Bill and the Rubber Control (Amendment) Bill in accordance with Article 79 of the Constitution recently (22).
The Bill to amend the Samurdhi Act, No. 1 of 2013, presented to Parliament on 17th June 2025 by the Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment, provides for the strengthening of financial accountability within financial institutions and the improvement of financial supervision of such institutions.
Furthermore, by assigning to the National Audit Office the responsibility to audit the accounts of Samurdhi community-based banks and Samurdhi community-based banking societies, this Amendment ensures compliance with the prevailing statutory and national auditing procedures while strengthening accountability within financial institutions.
Meanwhile, the Rubber Control (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to amend the Rubber Control Act, No. 11 of 1956, replaces the designations “Controller” and “Rubber Controller” with the title “Director-General,” thereby providing for the control of the rubber development sector under the office of a Director-General.
Accordingly, these two Bills shall come into operation as the Samurdhi (Amendment) Act, No. 15 of 2025 and the Rubber Control (Amendment) Act, No. 16 of 2025. (Islandnews)
