Nov 10, Colombo: Opposition parties of Sri Lanka have requested the Speaker of the parliament to grant more slots to the opposition in the parliamentary select committee set up to probe the charges against the Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake.

The Speaker has assigned11 members -seven for the ruling party and four for opposition- to the proposed parliamentary select committee.

However the opposition party leaders, John Amaratunga, Joseph Michael Perera, Ravi Karunanayaka, Lakshman Kiriella of the United National Party, R. Sampanthan of Tamil National Alliance and Anura Kumara Dissanayaka of Democratic National Alliance met the Speaker yesterday to discuss the request to increase opposition's participation.

They have requested to increase the membership in the parliamentary select committee to 13 and to increase the opposition membership to six, a one below the government representation.

The Speaker has promised them to discuss the matter at the meeting of the parliamentary group leaders scheduled for Monday.

The government and the major opposition UNP have already named the representatives for the parliamentary select committee but two opposition seats remain unfilled delaying the start of the proceedings.

The parliamentary select committed is appointed to probe 14 charges brought against the Chief Justice.