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Prominent lawyer Asoka Samararatna no more

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Mr. Asoka Samararatna, principal partner of Samararatna Associates, Attorneys-at-Law and Notaries Public, and prominent figure in public interest litigation, passed away yesterday morning upon admission to hospital. He was 70.

Educated at Royal College, and graduating from Law College, with an LLB from the University of Colombo, Mr. Samararatna commenced his practice at D.N. Thurairajah & Company and later formed his own law firm in 1985 under his name together with Mr. Sunil Fernando, and the late Mr. Joe Rajakaruna.

The firm soon had a large clientele and specialised in litigation and commercial law forming a subsidiary, viz. Company Secretaries (Pvt.) Ltd.

Separately, Mr. Samararatna was at times the personal lawyer for prominent political leaders, including President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and his firm appeared as instructing attorneys for the United National Party, and several other political parties, in many high profile cases over the past three decades.

Samararatna Associates were also the lawyers for The Editors Guild of Sri Lanka and engaged in their many legal battles with the then governments, especially in criminal defamation and censorship actions, instances of harassment and intimidation of journalists and attacks on presses.

The Editors’ Guild, in a statement issued yesterday, said; “Mr. Asoka Samararatna was a steadfast friend of a free media and was there for us in our many challenges with oppressive regimes of the past. He and his firm always appeared gratis and ungrudgingly for us when we needed him most, rallying senior counsel to appear for us. We could always count on his support. He never let us down.”

Mr. Samararatna’s remains will be at The Restpect parlour of Jayaratne Undertakers, Borella, from today, for the public to pay their last respects. The funeral is on Saturday, January 14.



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Unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation plague most schools, say Principals

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By Pradeep Prasanna Samarakkone and Chaminda Silva

Around 500 schools across the country lack access to safe drinking water for students, Piyasiri Fernando, Secretary of the Sri Lanka Principals’ Association, has said.

Fernando told The Island that a significant number of schools did not have facilities to store water properly. He said many schools lacked sanitary facilities.

Fernando also noted that in some schools in the Eastern, North Central, Uva, North Western, and Central provinces, as well as in approximately 20% of schools located near coastal areas, there are no proper toilet facilities. Despite the issuance of circulars specifying the number of toilets to be built, based on the number of students, some schools still did not have sanitary facilities as per those guidelines, the Secretary of the Principals’ Association said.

According to the School Census -2023 (2024) conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics there were 3,882,688 schoolchildren, 830,021 in National Schools and 3,052,667 in Provincial Schools.

Out of 10,096 schools, 1,506 have 1-50 students, 1,638 have 51-100 students and 2,128 have 101-200 students. Only 67 schools have 3,001-4,000 students, while only 33 have more than 4,000 students. 3,117 or 30.9 percent schools have fewer than 10 teachers.

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Julie meets Namal at SLPP HQ

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Rajapaksa and Kariyawasam with Ambassador Chung

US Ambassador, Julie Chung, visited the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) office on Friday (14) for discussions with party representatives.

Ambassador Chung arrived at the SLPP Headquarters around 10:00 a.m. and engaged in talks for over an hour and a half. Her visit followed a request by the SLPP to meet her.

During the meeting, she held discussions with SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, former Members of Parliament Sanjeewa Edirimanne, C.B. Ratnayake, and Jayantha Ketagoda, as well as current MP D.V. Chanaka. Milinda Rajapaksha, an advisor to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was also present.

The visit comes amid calls from SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa for an investigation into USAID fund recipients in Sri Lanka.

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Speaker agrees to probe allegations of ‘unethical funding’ by USAID

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Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne

By Saman Indrajith

Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne informed Parliament on Friday (14) that he intended to take necessary action regarding requests made by MPs concerning allegations over USAID funding in Sri Lanka.

He made this statement in response to a question raised by Opposition MP Dayasiri Jayasekara, who sought a clarification on the matter.

Jayasekara noted that SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa had sent a letter to the Speaker calling for the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to investigate reports about unethical USAID funding in the country. He questioned whether such a committee would be formed and the matter formally examined.

In response, Speaker Wickramaratne confirmed that he was planning to take appropriate action on the issue.

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