School principal who was transferred due to political whim to be reinstated
View(s):A former principal of a school in the North Central Province, who was transferred illegally, is to be reinstated in his position in the same school within the next two months.
This was after the Supreme Court ruled that the Chief Minister of the North Central Province had violated the fundamental rights of the principal, and ordered the former CM, Peshala Jayaratne, to pay Rs250,000 as compensation to, Mr Bandara the principal who challenged his transfer order. The State was also ordered to pay Rs50,000 as compensation to the former principal of Niwaththaka Chethiya Maha Vidyalaya, Anuradhapura.
Mr Bandara had filed a Fundamental Rights petition over the transfer from the school in 2016 claiming that the CM had ordered the transfer accusing him of failing to properly organise a foundation stone laying ceremony at the school on September 9, 2016. The principal’s appeals to senior officers had been ignored, prompting him to resort to legal action.