News
CAA withholds gazette notification on Trade Minister’s reduction of 18-litre LPG cylinders
‘There was no Cabinet decision as claimed’
by Suresh Perera
The gazette on the reduction of the price of an 18-litre hybrid domestic cooking gas cylinder by Rs. 245, as announced by Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena, has been withheld by the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) after it was discovered that the Cabinet has so far not made any recommendation on re-adjusting the existing pricing, a senior official said.
The Minister told the media last week that the price of the controversial LPG hybrid cylinders introduced to the market by Litro and Laugfs Gas have been reduced “following a Cabinet decision”.
“We will not be issuing a gazette notification to implement the price reduction as documentation sent to us by the Trade Ministry indicated that a Cabinet decision on the matter was still pending”, CAA’s Executive Director, Thushan Gunawardena said.
A gazette notification to give legal effect to such a price reduction cannot be published without a clear cut recommendation from the Cabinet, he pointed out. “It should be in black and white”.
He said that in terms of the documentation sent to the CAA from the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers via the Trade Ministry, the Cabinet paper, dated July 5, 2021, presented by Minister Gunawardena to the Cabinet on July 12, 2021 on the subject of reducing the price of 18-litre domestic LPG cylinders, was deferred until the next meeting on a request by the Finance Minister.
Gunawardena said the Minister’s statement to the media was misleading as it was clear that the Cabinet has still not decided on the matter.
“There would have been a load of trouble if we had gazetted the claimed price reduction without first scrutinizing the documents sent to the CAA”, he explained.
“We have clear instructions from the Attorney General’s Department not to recognize the 18-litre hybrid cylinders as they were introduced to the market in contravention of consumer protection laws”, he noted.
The contents of each 18-litre cylinder works out to 9.18 kilograms, which means that, unlike the 12.5kg cylinders, heavy vehicles will have to make more trips from point A to B to distribute them and replenish stocks, the Executive Director elaborated.
“At the end of the day, it will contribute towards increasing Sri Lanka’s carbon footprint”.
The launch of the new 18-litre domestic cylinders triggered protests by consumers and interest groups as a 12.5-kilogram cooking gas cylinder is sold for Rs. 1,493 in the market, whereas the 9.18 kilogram product was priced at Rs. 1,395 in spite of the weight being reduced by three kilograms.
It boils down to consumers being offered three kilograms less for a mere one hundred rupees cheaper than a regular 12.5-kilogram, industry officials said.
By Priyan de Silva
The Election Commission (ECSL) has opposed a move by the government to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor local government institutions.
ECSL Chairman Nimal G. Punchihewa told The Island that the government had informed the ECSL of its plan to appoint representatives of the Chairpersons of the Regional Development Committee to monitor the local government bodies and the ECSL had decided to write to the Ministry of Local Government opposing the move, he said. A Chairman of a regional development committee ESD a representative of a particular political party and it would be unfair by other parties for such appointments to be made, the EC Chairman said.
Punchihewa said that the administration of local government institutions could be done through Municipal Commissioners and Divisional Secretaries.Many political parties had complained against the government move, he said.
By Saman Indrajith
The JVP would file a fresh application before the Supreme Court against the government for not holding the local council polls, JVP MP Vijitha Herath said yesterday.Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte, Herath said that his party had ascertained fresh information by invoking the Right to Information Act about the funds needed for the holding of the elections and his party would file another fundamental rights case against those responsible for conducting elections.
“The LG polls were to be held on 09 March. They were postponed until 25 April, and later they were put off indefinitely. The President appoints Governors to the provinces and the local councils are under them. Now, he says no party commands the support of 50 percent of voters.
Is this reason why he is not holding elections? His claim that there are no funds for elections is not acceptable. The Election Commission (EC) has, in a letter to the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, asked for Rs 1,100 million in installments for conducting local government elections. The Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, on 07 March, informed
the EC that the latter’s request had been referred to the Minister of Finance on the same day. But so far the money has not been released. As per a report released by the Treasury, the government revenue was Rs 177,900 million in January this year alone. Of that amount, Rs 156,760 was allocated to government institutions. The Treasury has Rs 21,410 million. In February, the government revenue was at Rs. 271,750 million and of that Rs. 208,620 million was spent. The balance was Rs 63,130 million. In January and February, the Treasury had Rs 84,270 million. These figures have been officially confirmed by a Deputy Treasury Secretary. The EC is seeking only Rs 2,460 million for elections. So, the claim that there is no money for elections is false as per official records. We will submit this information to the Supreme Court when we file a fresh application. We will prove that the government has lied to people,” Herath said.
SJB mayoral candidate for Colombo Municipal Council Mujibur Rahuman alleges that President Ranil Wickremeisnghe has violated election laws by appointing UNP’s mayoral candidate Rosy Senanayake as the Presidential Advisor on Local Government.
Participating in a talk show hosted by a private TV channel, Rahuman said that Senanayake was a candidate for the delayed local government polls. “She has submitted nominations for the Colombo Municipal Council from the UNP list. It is illegal to appoint a candidate to such a post pending an election. The local council polls have not yet been cancelled and cases pertaining to the holding of elections are in progress,” he said, adding that of all the posts the local government candidate had been given the post of Presidential Advisor on Local Governance.
“More than three months have lapsed since Senanayake stepped down from the Colombo Mayor post, but she is still occupying the Mayor’s Residence. The President says that he is implementing the system change demanded by people. The change he is actually doing is giving appointments to his cronies. Is it the change the people expected,” Rahuman queried.
EC opposes govt. move to appointment its henchmen to monitor local councils
JVP says govt. has enough funds for elections
Rosy’s appointment violative of election laws – Mujibur
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