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Minister initiates search and preservation of ‘Saradiel files’
Speaking at the Kandy Courts Complex, Minister of Justice, Thalatha Athukorala, said immediate steps would be taken to order a search for documents pertaining to the famous ‘Saradiel Trial’ and ‘Judgements made by the District Judge and Civil Servant A.C. Lawrie’.
The minister took the decision in response to a statement made by the President of the Kandy Bar Association, Shantha Ratnayake who pointed out that many files containing judgements were stacked on court corridors since the court complex had been shifted from Kandy to its present location at Gatambe around ten years ago.
He stressed two valuable sets of documents -the A.C. Lawrie judgements and judgement in the Saradiel Trial- were among the stack of files.
The Minister said she would take immediate steps to have racks fitted where files could be stored and advised the Department of Archives to study the files with the help of court officials.
The files which were shifted ten years ago from the Kandy Courts Complex, had been lying exposed to the elements unnoticed at the new Courts Complex at Gatambe until the present president of the Bar Association had brought it to the notice of the Minister.
Subsequently members of the Kandy Bar Association took up for discussions matters pertaining to the preservation of documents regarding judgements made in commercial cases.