Role of the Legal Draftsman's Department

The main function of the Legal Draftsman's Department is the transformation of the Government policies on diverse subjects into legislation in line with the Constitution and the decisions made by the Cabinet of Ministers. In this process, the Department drafts Bills to enact new legislation and to amend existing legislation, and also revises the subordinate legislation submitted by various Government Ministries. The other duties entrusted to this Department include participating at Parliamentary Select Committee Meetings convened to review draft Bills and being present in Parliament and co-coordinating with the Parliament when the Bills are taken up for debate. This Department provides services to all Government Ministries and Departments including the State Corporations and Statutory Bodies coming under the Ministries. The Department also provides legal advice to   Government Ministries and Departments with regard to the preparation of various Bills and subordinate legislation.

The unique feature of this Department is that the Department does not have a structured work programme of its own. This is because the work programme of the Department is of necessity structured on the legislative needs of the Ministries of the Government and the various Departments under such Ministries, at a given time, upon the required policy being approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. The performance record of the Legal Draftsman’s Department is therefore structured on the basis of the successful completion of the requests made for primary and amending legislation and subsidiary legislation submitted to it by the respective line Ministries throughout any particular year. Every part of the function of the Department that deals with legislation (whether primary, or subsidiary legislation) has to be completed in all three languages before it can be released to the requesting Ministry or Department.

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