Bill Cutting Down Privileges Of Former Presidents Not Yet Passed In Parliament, Viral Claim Is False

A new draft bill to cut down the privileges of former presidents of Sri Lanka was tabled on August 7, 2025 in the parliament. The bill was earlier gazetted to the public dated July 31, 2025, triggering discussions about the bill on both mainstream and social media.

In this context, a TikTok account named @raveesoba posted a video from HiruTV’s ‘Patthare Visthare’ segment about the new bill, saying, “Former Presidents are going home. The bill has been passed. It is doing what it says.”

Newschecker decided to verify the truth behind the claim.

What Does The New Bill Say?

Sri Lanka’s Former Presidents are entitled to certain privileges under the President’s Entitlements Act, No. 4 of 1986, including pension, official residence, office, staff, secretary, security team, and official vehicle. The sections of the Act state that these services must be paid for from the consolidated fund of the government and that, although the entitlements can be increased by a resolution passed by Parliament, the salary allowances and pension entitlements cannot be reduced. After the NPP government came to power in October 2024, a special three-member committee found that the amount spent on the maintenance of former presidents Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Ranasinghe Premadasa’s wife, Hema Premadasa, from 2022 to 2024 alone was nearly Rs. 270 million. More details can be found here and here.

The NPP government discussed a new bill with the cabinet in July, considering the huge expenditure incurred by former presidents, as mentioned above. According to the bill, which was gazetted on July 31, 2025, the monthly allowance paid to a former president or his widow, the monthly secretarial allowance paid to a former president or his widow, transportation and other facilities, and the monthly pension paid to a former president’s widow, etc., are to be abolished.

Fact Check/ Verification

To find out whether this bill has been passed in its entirety by the Parliament, we conducted a keyword search using the words “bill”, “presidential entitlement,” and “parliament.”

On August 7, the draft bill was tabled in parliament led by the Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara. However, there was a debate about whether it had been tabled on the correct date. Ministers Nalinda Jayatissa and Nanayakkara said during the parliamentary session that even though the gazette is dated July 31, 2025, the bill was presented to the cabinet a day before. In spite of the tabling in Parliament no date has yet been set for the first reading. According to Sri Lankan law, even if Cabinet approval is received, a bill cannot become a legal act without parliamentary approval, which requires two readings.

According to Parliamentary procedure, ordinary bills, “After 7 days from the publication in the gazette in terms of Article 78 of the Constitution and on the request of any Minister, a Bill is placed in the Order Paper for First Reading in terms of Standing Order No. 50(1).” 

After 14 days have passed since the first reading, the Bill will be referred for second reading in terms of Standing Orders 50(1) and 55(1). The date of the second reading of the Bill will be decided by the Committee on Parliamentary Business. Accordingly, the decision on the passing of the Bill after the second reading in Parliament will be made earliest after August 21. In addition, this decision may also be delayed due to possible delays in Parliament.

Conclusion

The new bill to repeal the President’s Entitlements Act, No. 4 of 1986, was gazetted on July 31, but no date has been set for debate in Parliament for its passage.

Our Souces
‘හිටපු ජනපති වරප්‍රසාද කප්පාදුව’, Lankadeepa Newspaper, February 25, 2025
‘⁠ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ ගැසට් පත්‍රය’, July 25, 2025, Part II, Supplement, July 31, 2025
‘විශ්‍රාමික ජනපතිවරුන්ගේ වරප්‍රසාද කප්පාදු කෙරෙන නව කෙටුම් පත ගැසට් කෙරේ; අහිමිවන වරප්‍රසාද මොනවා ද?’, BBC Sinhala, July 31, 2025