News
Supreme Court awards record compensation to victims of Easter Sunday attacks

Highest penalty Rs 100 mn against ex-President Sirisena
By A.J.A. Abeynayake
The Supreme Court yesterday (12) ordered former President Maithripala Sirisena, former IGP Pujith Jayasundara, former State Intelligence Service Director Nilantha Jayawardena, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and former Chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis to pay compensation to the victims of Easter Sunday attacks as they had failed to take action to prevent the bombings despite receiving sufficient intelligence.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena was ordered to pay Rs. 100 million to the victims of the attacks, while former IGP Pujith Jayasundara, and former SIS director Nilantha Jayawardena were asked to pay Rs. 75 million rupees. Former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and former Chief of
National Intelligence Sisira Mendis were asked to pay Rs 50 million and Rs. 10 million, respectively. The state was asked to pay a million rupees each to those who died in the attacks, and Rs. 500,000 each to the injured.
The court asked the state to pay compensation within six months and asked the Attorney General to present a report on the compensation paid so far.The court also ordered a disciplinary inquiry against the former SIS head Jayawardena.
Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya said that Sirisena and Jayawardena had not revealed the truth in the affidavits they had presented to the court.The court gave this verdict after considering 13 cases filed against the respondents. The seven-member Supreme Court bench comprised Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Justices Buwaneka Aluwihare, L.T.B. Dehideniya, Murdhu Fernando, S. Thurairaja, A.H.M.D. Nawaz and Shiran Gooneratne.
The bench finalised the examination on 05 October 2022. On 26 September the judges decided to remove Wickremesinghe’s name from the list of respondents because he had been elected President.
News
PNS Shahjahan departs after successful naval exercise

The Pakistan Naval Ship (PNS) Shahjahan which arrived in Colombo on 02nd June 2023 on a two-day official visit, departed the island on 04th June 2023.
News
EC opposes govt. move to appoint its henchmen to monitor local councils

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.
News
JVP says govt. has enough funds for elections

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.
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