The Colombo High Court and Court of Appeal yesterday issued arrest warrants for the Bodu Bala Sena general secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara in a case involving an alleged statement insulting Islam.

The arrest warrants were issued on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Court of Appeal issued an open warrant two weeks after the court rescinded the presidential pardon granted to the thera when he was serving a six-year term for contempt of court.

The Appeals Court also imposed a travel ban on the monk and ordered that the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration be informed of the restriction.

The case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Buddhika C. Ragala. Gnanasara Thera was not present when the case was called.

A medical report was submitted stating that Thera was unwell, while his sureties also failed to appear before court. His counsel, Asoka Weerasuriya, told court that his client wished to bring the case to an early conclusion and that representations had been made to the Attorney General in that regard.

However, after considering the submissions, the High Court judge said he was not satisfied with the medical report submitted on behalf of the accused. The court also noted the failure of the sureties to appear.

The judge subsequently ordered that Gnanasara Thera be arrested and produced before court.The Attorney General filed the case under provisions of the Penal Code, alleging that remarks made by Gnanasara Thera concerning the Holy Quran amounted to an insult to Islam.

A two-member bench comprising Court of Appeal President Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya and Justice Sarath Dissanayake yesterday (1) dismissed a writ petition filed by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa seeking judicial intervention to prevent his arrest under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in connection with the ongoing investigations into 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.

The writ petition was rejected in limine.

In the petition, the former President cited Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director Shani Abeysekera, the Officer-in-Charge of the CID’s Special Investigations Unit and the Attorney General as respondents. The ex-President sought the court intervention after the arrest of former head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay over the Easter Sunday attacks.

Since then , former Director of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) has been named as a suspect.

Earlier, the Fort Magistrate’s Court imposed a travel ban on him in relation to investigations stemming from allegations made by Asad Moulana in the Channel 4 documentary on the Easter attacks.

Government approves USD 57.4 million financing package — then moves to scrap net metering for new rooftop solar connections

By Ifham Nizam

Questions are mounting over the Government’s policy consistency after Sri Lanka secured a USD 57.4 million Asian Development Bank (ADB) financing package for a rooftop solar aggregation and virtual net metering project, while the Energy Ministry has subsequently directed that new rooftop solar connections operate exclusively under the Net Plus scheme.

The issue is not simply whether conventional Net Metering and the ADB-funded Virtual Net Metering (VNM) project are technically identical. They are not. The more fundamental question is why the Government negotiated and approved an ADB project specifically designed around a virtual net metering model and then introduced a major policy change affecting the country’s broader net-metering framework.

The ADB approved the USD 57.4 million financing package on June 25, 2026, comprising a USD 35 million

concessional loan, USD 16.9 million in grants from the European Union and USD 5.5 million from the Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism. Counterpart funding brings the total estimated project cost to USD 80.5 million.

The project is intended to establish a utility-led rooftop solar aggregation and VNM model through Electricity Distribution Lanka (EDL) and Lanka Electricity Company (LECO). Under the model, electricity generated from large rooftop solar installations would be pooled and credits virtually distributed to eligible consumers.

The project is therefore not a proposal that emerged outside the Government’s policy framework.

Cabinet approved negotiations with the ADB and other development partners for the project on November 3, 2025. Following the negotiations, Cabinet approved the agreements for a USD 35 million ADB concessional loan and USD 5.5 million Japanese grant, together with a EUR 15.4 million EU grant.

The ADB project itself was approved on June 25, 2026, and remains listed by the Bank as an approved project, with EDL and LECO identified as the executing agencies. ADB records also show that project tenders were subsequently issued in June 2026.

Yet, on September 11, the Energy Ministry issued a directive to EDL discontinuing Net Metering and Net Accounting for new rooftop solar connections and extensions, with new agreements to operate under Net Plus. The directive applies to grid clearances granted after September 11, while existing agreements are to continue under their existing terms.

This has prompted a crucial question among energy-sector stakeholders:

If the Government had already approved and negotiated an ADB project centred on virtual net metering, why was the country’s rooftop solar policy subsequently changed in a manner that removes two established net-metering options for new customers?

A senior energy-sector official, speaking to The Island, said the Government must clarify whether the September policy decision has any implications for the ADB-funded project.

“The important issue is policy consistency. If the Government negotiated an internationally financed project based on a virtual net-metering model, there must be a clear explanation of how the subsequent policy decision fits into that project,” the official said.

The official stressed that Virtual Net Metering should not be confused with conventional Net Metering.

The ADB project involves a utility-led model in which rooftop solar PV systems installed and owned by the utilities generate electricity that can be virtually allocated to eligible consumers. The project is also intended to modernise distribution networks and establish the infrastructure required to support the system.

However, another authoritative energy-sector source questioned whether the policy change had been fully reconciled with the ADB project during the Government’s decision-making process.

“The question is whether the regulatory assumptions and policy framework under which the project was negotiated remain unchanged. If they have changed, the Government should explain whether the ADB was consulted and whether any project documents or implementation arrangements have to be revised,” the source said.

The chronology is significant.

November 3, 2025: Cabinet approves negotiations with the ADB and other development partners for the Rooftop Solar Aggregation and Virtual Net Metering Project.

June 25, 2026: ADB approves the project.

June 26, 2026: ADB announces the USD 57.4 million financing package, with the total project cost estimated at USD 80.5 million.

June-August 2026: Project procurement proceeds, with ADB records showing tenders for the project.

September 11, 2026: The Energy Ministry directs EDL to discontinue Net Metering and Net Accounting for new rooftop solar connections and extensions.

The timing raises questions about coordination between the Ministry of Energy, the utilities and the agencies involved in negotiating the ADB financing.

An energy-sector policymaker told The Island that the Government should make clear whether the new policy affects the VNM component of the ADB project.

“There is a distinction between Net Metering and Virtual Net Metering. But when a major externally financed project is specifically designed to establish a virtual net-metering business model, any major change to the national rooftop solar policy needs to be transparently explained,” the policymaker said.

The ADB describes the project as a mechanism to help consumers who lack either the financing or suitable rooftop space to benefit from solar power through a virtual net-metering mechanism using rooftop solar PV systems installed and owned by the two utilities.

The Government’s latest rooftop solar policy, meanwhile, moves new customers towards Net Plus. Under Net Plus, electricity generated by a rooftop solar system is sold to the utility separately from the electricity consumed by the customer; generation and consumption are therefore treated as separate transactions.

This makes the Government’s explanation particularly important because the ADB project is designed to create a new utility-led VNM model, rather than simply preserve the existing household Net Metering arrangement.

The Government has not publicly stated, in the material examined by The Island, that the ADB financing has been cancelled or suspended. The ADB continues to list the project as approved.