The report of a committee appointed to update the regulations and standing orders issued under the Prisons Ordinance will be submitted to the Mahanayake Theras for review, the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs has said, according to NewsFirst.
Ministry Secretary Prince Senadheera said the report is scheduled to be handed to the Presidential Secretary on Thursday 15 October, and that the committee will meet again on Monday to reach a final decision.
An initial discussion on amending several regulations and standing orders relating to Buddhist monks held in prisons took place on the afternoon of Friday 9 October at the Presidential Secretariat.
Why the rules are being revisited
The review follows the appearance in court of the imprisoned Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera in civilian clothing rather than his robes, which drew protests from a section of the Buddhist clergy.
The Daily Mirror reported on 9 October that the President had decided to amend the Prisons Ordinance to give authorities more flexibility in determining the attire of convicted members of the clergy, and that a committee had been appointed for the purpose and was expected to meet that day — the sitting NewsFirst now places on Friday afternoon.
The Mahanayake Theras of the four main chapters have written to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake saying only they may decide on removing a monk’s robe, following an investigation conducted in keeping with Buddhist tradition, and that prison authorities have no such role.
The committee
Besides Senadheera, the members named are Piyumanthi Peiris, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Justice and National Integration; Wasantha Ariyaratne, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government; R.M.G. Senaratne, Commissioner General of Buddhist Affairs; and A.C. Gajanayake, a Commissioner of the Department of Prisons.
The committee was appointed by the President to periodically review the Prisons Ordinance regulations and standing orders and update them in line with religious, cultural, legal, administrative and practical requirements.
Update, 11 October: what the amendments would actually do
The substance of the proposed regulations has now been stated. The government has begun drafting rules to allow imprisoned Buddhist monks to wear their robes when escorted outside prison premises, subject to the recommendation of the Nikaya or chapter to which the monk belongs, the President’s Media Division said, reported by the Daily Mirror on Sunday afternoon.
The government expects to finalise and pass the regulations within the next two weeks.
Three things in that statement are worth separating out.
The scope is narrower than the dispute. The provision covers robes worn when a monk is escorted outside prison premises — which is the situation that triggered the controversy, Gnanasara Thera being produced in court in civilian clothing. It does not, on this account, address what a monk wears inside the prison, where Regulation 216 currently requires prison-issue clothing for those serving rigorous imprisonment.
The Nikaya gets a formal role. Permission is conditional on the endorsement of the monk’s own chapter. That tracks the proposal the Malwathu chapter says the President accepted last Thursday — that prison authorities be required to notify the relevant chapter and act on its recommendations — and it is a partial answer to the four Mahanayake Theras’ position that only the Sangha may decide on a monk’s robes.
The timeline is consistent. “Within the next two weeks” matches the two-week deadline the President gave the committee when he appointed it, and sits alongside the report’s scheduled handover to the Presidential Secretary on 15 October.
This is a statement of intent from the President’s Media Division, not a published text: the Daily Mirror does not quote the draft, cite a gazette, or say the regulations have been approved.
Not reported
Answered since first publication: what the proposed amendments would do — permit robes when a monk is escorted outside prison premises, with the chapter’s endorsement — and a timeline for passing them.
Still open: whether the rules would apply retrospectively to Gnanasara Thera’s own case, and whether they change anything about attire inside prison. Neither filing says which Mahanayake Theras will receive the committee’s report or by when they are expected to respond, nor whether their review is advisory or binding on the final decision. The Sunday filing does not say what happens if a chapter declines to make a recommendation, which instrument the rules will take effect under, or whether they require parliamentary approval. No source gives the date of Gnanasara Thera’s next court appearance — the point at which the question becomes practical.
