The Presidential Secretariat stated that under the National People's Power (NPP) Government, the powers to grant Presidential pardons will not be abolished, but will be ensured that those powers are exercised in an appropriate and transparent manner.  

In recent times, the Supreme Court has revoked two Presidential pardons granted by former Presidents Maithripala Sirisena and Gotabaya Rajapaksa to Jude Shramantha Anthony Jayamaha and Duminda Silva, who have respectively been convicted of the murders of Yvonne Jonsson and Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

Given that the said Presidential pardons have attracted significant criticism from the public, and in a context where former Parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake who received a Presidential pardon under a previous administration but is currently seeking, according to him, the full restoration of his civic rights, from the new administration, The Daily Morning queried the Presidential Secretariat's Legal Director, attorney J.M. Wijebandara as to whether there will be any change to the relevant legal provisions under the NPP Government. In response, he said that they were not of the stance that the Presidential pardon should be abolished. "Having such provisions is not wrong, but, those powers should be exercised in an appropriate and transparent manner, not abruptly." He further said that it is the way that Presidential pardons were granted that has been criticised by the people, and not the concept. "If it's exercised following the due process, there won't be an issue. Under the existing provisions, several reports should be called and publicised before granting a pardon to a certain convict. A pardon can't be granted all of a sudden without calling those reports. We expect to implement this concept in a proper manner."

Wijebandara's comments come in the wake of Ramanayake, who was conditionally pardoned in 2022 by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe following his conviction for contempt of court, having submitted a formal request to the Presidential Secretariat recently, appealing to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to restore his civic rights. Ramanayake told the media that he spoke to the President over the phone, who instructed him to submit the request for consideration. 

The Constitution’s Articles which include the powers and functions of the President state: "The President may, in the case of any offender convicted of any offence in any court within Sri Lanka, grant a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions; grant any respite, either indefinite for such period as the President may think fit, of the execution of any sentence passed on such offender; substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed on such offender; or remit the whole or any part of any punishment imposed or of any penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the Republic on account of such offence." In relation to pardoning death row convicts, the Constitution states that the President should cause a report to be made to him/her by the Judge who tried the relevant case and forward such report to the Attorney General (AG). With the AG's instructions, the report should be forwarded to the Minister of Justice, who shall forward the report with his/her recommendation to the President.