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Magistrate orders arrest of Hirunika
By AJA Abeynayake
Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage on Friday ordered the arrest of two persons, including former MP Hirunika Premachandra, for not appearing before court when a case against 12 persons for having held a protest on 07 July 2022, in defiance of a court order, was taken up for hearing.
When the case was called in the open court on Friday, the lawyer representing Premachandra informed the court that his client was ill. However, he failed to produce a medical certificate related to the illness when the Magistrate asked for it and the Magistrate issued a warrant for her.
The other 10 suspects who had been released on bail appeared in open court.The group of defendants including Hirunika Neranjali Premachandra, Nirupama Karunanayake, Sapna Deepisika, Chamila Nilani Abeykoon, Rosell Wijeratne, Sandaruwan Rodrigu, U Prakash, Gihan Almeida, Ravindra Panavila, Wijeratne Jayawickrama, Ramsika, and Kavinda Udayanga have been accused of violating court orders during the protest which was held two days before the private house of President Ranil Wickremesinghe was set on fire on July 9 last year.
The Paddy Marketing Board has approximately 115,000 metric tonnes of paddy stocks purchased from farmers, which are currently stored in the Board’s warehouses, and it has been planned to retain a sufficient buffer stock from these reserves and sell the remaining quantity in order to provide the necessary storage space and financial resources for the purchase of paddy from farmers during the upcoming Yala season.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to sell the aforementioned paddy stocks
following a formal tender procedure.
The Promotion of Export Agriculture Act, No. 46 of 1992 provides the legal provisions for regulating and promoting the export agriculture sector in this country.
Taking into consideration administrative changes and sectoral developments that have taken place over time, approval was granted at the Cabinet Meetings held on 2023-09-04 and 2025-08-11 to amend the said Act, which has not been updated for over 30 years.
The proposed amendments are intended to amend the designations of the Head of the Department of Export Agriculture and other officials, and to provide a clearer definition of the term “the export agricultural crop.”
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to publish in the Government Gazette the Draft Export Agriculture Promotion (Amendment) Bill, prepared in all three languages by the Legal Draftsman to amend the Export Agriculture Promotion Act, No. 46 of 1992, and thereafter submit the same to Parliament for its concurrence
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