Colombo, Apr 8 (PTI) Sri Lanka's Parliament on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution to fire chief of police Deshabandu Tennakoon for misconduct and abuse of power.

Of the 225 members, 151 voted in favour of the resolution that included a few opposition members. A large number of opposition members however were absent from the House when the voting took place.

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The government moved the resolution under the Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act of 2002 where Parliament can resolve to remove the police chief and the attorney general.

Tennakoon, the Inspector General of Police, surrendered after an arrest order was served on him by the court in the southern town of Matara in late February.

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He evaded arrest for nearly three weeks after being charged for his role in a shooting incident in the southern resort of Weligama on December 30, 2023.

Tennakoon had been suspended from functioning by the Supreme Court in July last year by ordering a hearing on the legality of his appointment.

He was appointed the police chief in November 2023 despite him being found guilty of torturing a person in custody by the Supreme Court in a fundamental rights petition.

According to procedure, Parliament will next appoint a committee of three comprising of a judge of the Supreme Court, the chair of the independent police commission and an eminent person from the field of law or administration.

The committee shall inquire and report its findings to the speaker.

Tennakoon would then be removed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake after his address to Parliament on the findings of the committee on grounds of charges made against the police chief.

This would be the first such removal of either the police chief or the attorney general since the enactment of the law in 2002.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)