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C.D. Wickramaratne retired today (25) as the inspector general of police after having completed a third service extension.

He telephoned all DIGs and informed them of his retirement, said police headquarters sources.

Wickramaratne refused to accept the traditional farewell guard of honour and party.

According to the sources, senior DIG of western province Deshabandu Tennakoon is to be appointed the acting police chief.

The leader of the National People’s Power, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, demanded a vote in Parliament this evening (22), protesting the allocation of expenditure heads for former presidents in the 2024 Budget.

However, a total 62 MPs voted in favor of the proposal while only 03 votes against it. NPP parliamentarians Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Vijitha Herath and Harini Amarasuriya were the only MPs to vote against when the division was called.

Accordingly, the Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana informed the House that Heading No. 01 was passed with amendments during the Committee Stage.

The Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 23 November 2023, decided to reduce the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank by 100 basis points (bps) to 9.00 per cent and 10.00 per cent, respectively.

The Board arrived at this decision following a careful analysis of the current and expected developments in the domestic and global economy, with the aim of achieving and maintaining inflation at the targeted level of 5 per cent over the medium term, while enabling the economy to reach and stabilise at the potential level.

The Board took note of possible upside risks to inflation projections in the near term due to supply-side factors stemming from the expected developments domestically and globally.

However, the Board viewed that such near-term risks would not materially change the medium-term inflation outlook, as inflation expectations of the public remain anchored and economic activity is projected to remain below par in the near to medium term.

Further, the Board viewed that with this reduction of policy interest rates, along with the monetary policy measures carried out since June 2023, sufficient monetary easing has been effected in order to stabilise inflation over the medium term.

Hence, the Monetary Policy Board underscored the need for a swift and full passthrough of monetary easing measures to market interest rates, particularly lending rates, by the financial institutions, thereby accelerating the normalisation of market interest rates in the period ahead.

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President Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced that the Presidential and Parliamentary elections will be held next year.

Addressing the Parliament today (Nov 22), President Wickremesinghe further assured that the two elections will not be postponed.

“How can you say we are scared to hold elections? The elections will be held. Both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections will be held next year,” he said.

The President further said all the local and provincial council elections could be conducted the following year, adding that there were no issues in carrying it out.

He made the announcement while joining the Parliamentary debate on the Appropriation Bill for the fiscal year 2024.

The President made the remarks in response to a question raised by Chief Opposition Whip MP Lakshman Kiriella.

The proposed 18 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) increase will not be effective for diesel and kerosene, Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera assured today.

“The final decision on the proposed VAT increase will be made on December 10 this year. However focus is made to exempt kerosene and diesel from the VAT,” the Minister said.

The construction of Sri Lanka’s second oil refinery in Hambantota is to begin next month, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera told Parliament today.

Minister Wijesekera said the Cabinet sub-committee has already approved the project and the Cabinet is expected to approve it next week.

“Sri Lanka will go for petro-chemicals and petroleum products export once the second refinery comes into operation,” he said.

Also, the Minister said the government will finalize six major power projects next month. This includes the construction of a 500 MW wind power plant in Mannar by the Adani group, a 700 mw solar power station in Poonaryn and a 150 MW plant in Hambantota.

Further, the Minister said solar panels will be provided to all 27,000 places of religious worship in Sri Lanka, universities, schools, Divisional and District Secretariat offices within a year.

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The 2024 Advanced Level Examination will not be postponed, the Ministry of Education said today (Nov.22).

One of the fundamental rights (FR) petitions filed seeking the postponement of the exam has been dismissed by the Supreme Court, while the other was withdrawn by the petitioners.

As such, the 2024 A/L exam will be held as scheduled, from January 04 to 31 next year, the ministry said further.

Retired SSP Shani Abeysekara has filed a case at the Colombo District Court seeking compensation of Rs. 1 billion from four senior police officers for his wrongful arrest and prosecution.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) C.D. Wickramaratne, Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon, IP Jagath Nishantha and ASP Neville Silva from the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD), and the Attorney General have been cited as respondents in the case.

Through the case, Abeysekara has accused the officers of the CCD of allegedly having framed him by fabricating evidence related to the case filed in connection to the murder of the late businessman Mohamed Shyam.

Claiming that the investigation in this regard had been conducted under the instructions of the IGP and SDIG Tennakoon, Abeysekara alleged that the two officers from the CDD had been threatened to make false statements against him.

Stating that based on the statements he had been arrested and remanded after being produced before the Gampaha Court, Abeysekara said he had been released on the orders of the Attorney General months later.

Abeysekara pointed out that he has sought compensation from the four Police officers for misusing the court process and causing grievances to him.

Earlier, Abeysekara had also sent a letter of demand to the four senior police officers, alleging that the respondents had victimized him and abused the court process.

Shani Abeysekara was arrested in July 2020 and was charged under the Offensive Weapons Act and Explosives Devices Act.

Abeysekara, the former senior superintendent of police who headed the CID, was accused of fabricating evidence in the case against former DIG Vaas Gunawardena, his son and four other police officers related to the murder of late businessman Mohamed Shyam in 2013.

The Court of Appeal discharged Abeysekara from the case in August this year, prompting the Attorney General to withdraw the charges filed against him.

State Minister Sanath Nishantha has been suspended from parliament for a period of two weeks due to his unruly behaviour inside the Chambers on Tuesday (Nov.21).

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena communicated the announcement to the Members of Parliament after the Third Reading or the Committee Stage debate on the 2024 Budget kicked off this morning.

Abeywardena said he vehemently deplores the tense situation that ensued during Tuesday’s parliamentary session.

As Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa raised questions about the individuals including the Rajapaksa brothers who were held responsible by the Supreme Court for the economic crisis facing the country, several SLPP MPs including State Minister Sanath Nishantha had disrupted his speech and surrounded his seat, creating a commotion.

As the ruckus grew out of hand, the Speaker had suspended the parliamentary session and walked out of the Chamber.

State Minister Nishantha was also accused of snatching the opposition leader’s binder containing official documents during the uproar.

Meanwhile, Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella has requested the Speaker to take disciplinary action against the group of parliamentarians who interrupted Premadasa.

Today (23), on the second day of the Committee Stage of the Appropriation Bill for the year 2024, the budget head of the Ministry of Defence (103) taken up for debate was passed by a 68 majority votes.

Following the debate of the Committee Stage held today at around 6:00 pm, Member of Parliament of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress G. G. Ponnambalam, called for a division for the budget head of the Ministry of Defence, and accordingly, 76 votes were cast in favor of it and 8 votes were cast against.

Mrs. Kusumalatha Mahagamasekara, the beloved wife of the late literary great – Mahagama Sekara, passed away today (21).

She was aged 88 years.

A graduate of Peradeniya University, Mrs. Mahagamasekara served as a language and literature teacher in various schools across the island for an extended period.

The remains will be placed for final respects at the ‘Restpect’ parlour in Borella, November 24, starting from 10.00am.

Final rites are scheduled to take place on Saturday, Nov. 25, at 10.30 am at the cremation grounds at the Kithulwatta Road entrance of the Borella Public Cemetery.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Sanath Nishantha has written to the Speaker over the decision to suspend him from Parliamentary sittings for a period of 2 weeks.

In his 06-point letter, MP Sanath Nishantha expressed regret over the incident that occurred in Parliament leading to his suspension, while he also acknowledged that such an incident should not have taken place in Parliament.

MP Sanath Nishantha further outlined the cause for his actions and also pointed out various violations that had taken place by Opposition Leader MP Sajith Premadasa and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Nalin Bandara at the time.

Claiming that action being initiated only against him was a violation of his Parliamentary privileges, MP Sanath Nishantha urged the Speaker to investigate and initiate proper action against MPs Sajith Premadasa and Nalin Bandara in this regard.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has moved the Under 19 World Cup to South Africa from Sri Lanka, the Indian cricket news website Cricbuzz reported.

The decision has been taken by the ICC board in view of the administrative uncertainty in Sri Lanka Cricket. The ICC is currently meeting in Ahmedabad.

After a detailed deliberations, the board has decided to uphold the November 10 decision to suspend the SLC. The board said that while cricket involving the island team will continue uninterrupted, the suspension, however, will not be overturned, according to the relevant report.

“It was a unanimous decision by the board that the suspension cannot be lifted. Cricket in the country will continue as normal,” a well-placed source told Cricbuzz. Shammi Silva, the president of the SLC, has attended the board meeting, held at ITC Narmada in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, November 21.

The board has also decided that the Sri Lanka team will continue to play international cricket despite the suspension of SLC. The game will run through the suspended SLC, which will receive controlled funding, Cricbuzz added.

The Under-19 World Cup was scheduled to take place between January 14 and February 15. The dates will clash with the second edition of SA20, which runs from January 10 to February 10 but a top Cricket South Africa (CSA) official told Cricbuzz that both events can be organised simultaneously as the T20 league is being overseen autonomously by a body independent of CSA, Cricbuzz mentioned.

The option of holding the event in Oman and UAE were also considered, but South Africa was eventually preferred because of better infrastructure: the requirement was three grounds, and Oman only has one. Furthermore, moving the teams between UAE and Oman would have been an expensive proposition and the Board finally zeroed in on South Africa. CSA has agreed to spare three venues for the mutli-nation championship.

SLC chief Silva is of the opinion that the confusion could have been avoided but said cricket in the country will remain uninterrupted.

“I have requested the ICC board to allow the game to continue and the members have upheld our request,“ Silva told Cricbuzz.

He has also confirmed that Sri Lanka Under-19 team will take part in the U-19 World Cup in South Africa.

--Agencies