News

The attorney general will not appear on behalf of senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon in a writ petition that seeks his arrest over the May 09 incidents.

A two-member Appeal Court panel that took up the case today (29) fixed the next hearing for December 16 after being told that Tennakoon’s lawyer Romesh de Silva had no sufficient time for preparation.

A lawyer, Ramalingam Ranjan, has filed the petition, citing the AG, IGP, director of the CID too, as respondents.

The petitioner cites adequate evidence to arrest Tennakoon over the attack on GotaGoGama protest site.

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Thursday (24) issued notice on Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to make submissions with regard to the Presidential Pardon he gave to Ex-Parliamentarian Duminda Silva.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to make submissions before the 16th of December 2022.

Notice was issued on the Former President by the Surepme Court following the consideration of Fundamental Rights Applications filed against the Presidential Pardon by Hirunika Premachandra, her mother Sumana Premachandra, and Former Human Rights Commissioner Ghazali Hussain, PC.

The applications were called up in the presence of Justices Yasantha Kodagoda, and Murdhu Fernando, and further consideration of the applications will take place on the 16th of December.

On the 31st of May 2022, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court issued an interim order suspending the Presidential Pardon given to Ex-MP Duminda Silva, who was on death row for the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

The Supreme Court had also imposed an overseas travel ban on Duminda Silva as well.

The former parliamentarian and ex-provincial councillor had been convicted on a charge of murder and sentenced to death.

After being pardoned in June 2021, Duminda Silva was appointed in July as Chairman of the National Housing Development Authority by then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Earlier during the time of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Duminda Silva served as Monitoring MP of the Defence Ministry while Gotabaya was the Defence Ministry Secretary.

Duminda Silva was involved in a shooting incident on 8 October 2011, during Local Authority Elections, where former MP Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra known as “Lucky Aiya” and three of his bodyguards were killed.

The High Court of Sri Lanka convicted Duminda Silva and four of his associates for murder and imposed the death sentence on them on 16 September 2016.

Subsequently the sentence was appealed but a five-Judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction of Silva in a unanimous 51-page verdict issued on 16 October 2018.

Despite the High Court conviction of 2016 being upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018, Duminda Silva was a free man in June 2021.

News 1st

Train services from Mahawa to Jaffna will be suspended for five months from 15 January 2023, Minister of Transport and Highways and Minister of Mass Media Bandula Gunawardena stated.

Responding to a question raised by Vanni District MP Selvam Adaikkalanathan, during this morning’s Parliamentary session (28), the Transport Minister explained that no trains will operate along this route owing to maintenance work on the railway tracks.

“The train ran to Jaffna continuously, and it has now become impossible to travel beyond Mahawa due to the railway tracks not having been repaired”, Gunawardena stressed, assuring that the repairs will be completed in five months.

Lanka Sathosa Limited on Wednesday (23) announced the price reduction of several more products.

The prices of the following products will be reduced with effect from the 24th of November.

1. White Sugar (1 kg) will be reduced by Rs. 9/- to Rs. 229/-.

2. Bread Flour (1 kg) will be reduced by Rs. 14/- to Rs. 265/-.

3. Garlic (1 kg) will be reduced by Rs. 30/- to Rs. 495/-.

4. B Onions (1 kg) will be reduced by Rs. 43/- to Rs. 255/-

The World Bank in their latest assessment put out a list of 10 countries with the highest food price inflation. Sri Lanka was ranked at No. 6 with a percentage of 86%, while Zimbabwe was at the top spot with a staggering 321%.

Most notably according to the report Sri Lanka's food inflation is observed to be worse than that of countries such as Suriname, Rwanda and Iran as well.

The government has not made any decision or sought the postponement of the local government elections, Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakse said today (22).

Addressing the weekly Cabinet media briefing, he said the government is only attempting to make the necessary amendments or adjustments before the due date and then head in for the election.

“The adjustments are expected to be completed before February 2023 to hold the polls as scheduled,” he assured.

Stating that the number of local government members needs to reduce to at least 5,100 from the current 8,700, Minister Rajapakshe pointed out that the number has more than doubled from the time it was introduced in 1987.

He further said that this reduction is expected to be done before the next local government polls.

“The Prime Minister has appointed a delimitation commission. All those matters can be considered by the proposed select committee which will be represented by all the political parties in the parliament. I think they have to pick the best way possible,” the Justice Minister explained.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government has been urged to hold both the local government and parliament polls in the first quarter of 2023.

The local government elections were postponed by one year in February last year and they should be held by February 20, 2023.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has the discretion to dissolve the parliament anytime after February next year as per powers vested in him.

PUCSL approved power cuts of 2 hours and 20minutes on 28th & 29th November as follows;

Groups ABCDEFGHIJKLPQRSTUVW – 1hour during daytime and 1hour 20minutes during night.

The second reading of the Appropriation Bill for the year 2023 was passed with a majority of 37 votes in Parliament today.

A total of 121 MPs voted in favour and 84 MPs voted against, while 01 MP abstained from voting.

MPs Duminda Dissanayake, Jeevan Thondaman, and Priyankara Jayaratne were among the MPs who voted in favour of the Budget 2023.

Members of the opposition, including Opposition Leader MP Sajith Premadasa and MPs Rishad Bathiudeen, Kumara Welgama, Mano Ganesan, and Mathirpla Sirisena voted against it.

Meanwhile, Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kootan (TMTK) Leader CV Wigneswaran abstained from voting.

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court has granted permission to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to record statements from Thilini Priyamali, who is accused of massive financial fraud.

Accordingly, the CID officials are permitted to interrogate the Thico Group owner at the Welikada Prison premises until November 30, Additional Prisons Commissioner General, Chandana Ekanayake said.

Meanwhile, the accused was presented before a prison tribunal at the Welikada Prison, chaired by Colombo Additional District Judge.

During the proceedings, the case filed against Priyamali, for keeping a mobile phone inside the prison cell, was postponed until December 08 for further examination.

Transfers have been ordered for the OICs who have been serving the same police station for more than three years, said public security minister Tiran Alles.

He also said that out of 1,300 applicants for OIC postings, 1,090 have been selected at interviews.

They will soon be appointed, said Alles, stressing that appointments due to political pressure or otherwise would not be allowed.

Appointments will be made appropriately, but especially not to the area of residence of the appointee or the hometown of the spouse, he also said.

A project called ‘Lanka Dollar’ was launched yesterday (23) to mark the commencement of a digital platform that enables Sri Lankans to earn foreign exchange from home.

‘Youth to Globe’ digital platform especially caters to youths to work for foreign employers without leaving the country. President Ranil Wickremesinghe was the chief guest at the launch that was held at the BMICH in Colombo at the invitation of former minister Ravi Karunanayake as the chairman of the Lalith Athulathmudali Memorial Foundation.

Delivering a lecture on the occasion to commemorate the late politician, the president said the project would give a great boost to build a digital economy and for youth development.

Karunanayake said in his speech that ‘Youth to Globe’ would be a turning point in the revolutionary journey brought about in higher education by the late Lalith Athulathmudali through his Mahapola scholarships. The project aims to improve language, technical knowhow and other skills and to provide consultancy and coordination services for work-from-home international jobs.

Networking and promoting the field’s professionals and to act as an influencer in related decision-making are its other purposes.

The core objective is to retain the country’s human resources and to be a key source of foreign exchange earnings with the minimum use of resources.

This project by the Ceylon Global Trust will be assisted by the local branch of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) with consultancy services offered by local and foreign experts.

The gazette notification pertaining to the lifting of the ban imposed on the import of the herbicide Glyphosate has been sent to the Government Printer, says the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Gunadasa Samarasinghe.

The Minister of Agriculture had decided to lift the ban on Glyphosate following inquiries made from various sectors including the representatives from farmers, agricultural experts, and agronomists as to whether the ban should be continued further or not, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Further continuation of the Glyphosate ban had become futile as some people had illegally imported substanded Glyphosate via sea routes and were sold across the country at exorbitant prices, the Ministry said.

Accordingly, steps were taken to lift the Glyphosate ban that had been in place for 07 years since 2015, since there was no alternative method for weed control in the agricultural sector, that situation also led to a decrease in harvests, the secretary of the Ministry emphasized.

He said the gazette has been signed by the Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera and sent to the Government Printer to be published.

In September, the Cabinet of Ministers had approved a proposal to import Glyphosate for a period of 06 months for all agricultural activities during the 2022/23 Maha Season.

The government had said the decision to ban/restrict the importation of Glyphosate has affected all types of agricultural activities, leading to a decrease in agricultural production and a surge in prices of essential food items.

Taking into this account, permission is granted to import Glyphosate for a period of six months to allow farmers to carry out their agricultural activities more productively during 2022/23 Maha Season.

The relevant proposal had been tabled by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena, in 2015, banned the importation of Glyphosate as some studies had linked the use of the agrochemical to the chronic kidney disease affecting Sri Lankan farmers. The imports and use of the herbicide was accordingly prohibited under the Import and Export (Control) Act, No. 01 of 1969.

The ban was imposed without introducing any alternative for the purpose of weed control.

However, in 2018, the import ban was temporarily lifted for tea and rubber sectors for a period of 36 months, and the move was subsequently green-lighted by the then-Cabinet of Ministers.

In November 2021, an Extraordinary Gazette was published by then-Registrar of Pesticides Dr. J. A. Sumith, revoking the gazette notification issued in 2014 prohibiting the use and sale of five agrochemicals including Glyphosate. Mr. Sumith was later removed from the post pending a disciplinary inquiry into the rescinding of the said gazette notification and it was announced that the ban on five agrochemicals was still in effect.

The following month, the then-government decided to allow the imports of organic and inorganic compounds, and phosphorous derivatives of fertilizers, however, the ban on importing Glyphosate remained effective.