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Court orders should be respected, obeyed by Council: Councillor
View(s):By L.B. Senaratne
A senior Central Provincial Council (CPC) member Anura Fernando told a Council meeting held at Pallekelle that the Council should respect judgments handed down by the Judiciary.
The Councillor made these observations when Chief Minister (CM) Sarath Ekanayake informed the Council that he and the Cabinet of Provincial Ministers have agreed to appeal against the order of the Courts in connection with the transfer of the Principal of Suwarnamali Balika Vidyalaya, Kandy.
He was answering a question raised by Councillor Sanjeewa Kaviratne. The CM said that if the order is to reinstate the principal of Swarnamali, then, he would accede to the Court order. But, he said that, the Ministry Secretary has informed him that it is not so. He questioned whether the Councillor was speaking from the order or from the report.
Councillor Fernando who took up the Court order at the Council meeting, said that the Court order is very clear, and that three letters sent by the Education Dept. have been quashed by Courts. Therefore, the principal should be reinstated. But, whatever it is, he said that the Council has been spending money on Court cases, with most of them lost due to bad advice. He said that this is a colossal waste of money. He said that, as the 11th respondent in this case is the CPC, the Court order should be obeyed.
The Councillor further said that, in cases where wrong orders have been given due to misinformation provided by public servants, then the costs should be recovered from those who misled the Council or the Ministry.
In this case, the Principal of Suwaranali Balika Vidyalaya was transferred out of the school and a replacement made. The transferred principal was sent to the Education Dept as a Director. The replacement was the principal from Nugawela Madya Maha Vidyalaya selected after an interview. The transferred Principal went before Court in the way of a Writ of Certiorari and Mandamus.
The order was made by the Kandy High Court Judge Manilal Waidyatilleke, quashing the three letters sent by the Education Dept. Two letters refer to the transfer of the principal and the third to the appointment of the principal selected by the interview board.
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