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CID
awaits warrant A CID officer
said they were yet to receive the warrant for the arrest.
The Bench comprising
Justices Raja Fernando and G.W. Edirisuriya re-fixed the matter
for inquiry as the affidavit filed by the CID officer M.L. Wijesekera
stating that the witnesses have been threatened and the two statements
made by Mr. Iqbal Athas and his attorney T.G. Gunasekera had not
been furnished to court by either of the petitioners. Senior State
Counsel P.P. Surasena brought this to the notice of court by filing
the documents on Thursday. However the documents had not been annexed
to the record. Thus in view of the absence of material court directed a postponement. SLMC
dissidents to meet PM again Rebel group
leader A L M Athaullah had warned the dissidents would boycott the
budget also if a firm assurance was not given regarding the security
and rights of the Muslims. Mr. Athaullah
told The Sunday Times he had learnt from the Prime Minister's office
that a letter from Mr. Wickremesinghe was ready and would be sent
shortly. At a stormy
high command meeting on Tuesday night the Athaullah faction had
told the SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem to stay away from the Thailand
talks till the Premier gave a response. Mr. Hakeem delayed his departure
for Bangkok but eventually left on Thursday morning just before
the talks began. Mr. Athaullah said later he hoped Mr. Hakeem would speak out for Muslim rights at the talks in Thailand. Opposition
against silencing of quorum bell The Opposition
claims that Standing Orders state at least twenty one members including
the person presiding must be present and that it objects to the
proposal since it is against Standing Orders. Clause 10 of
the Standing Orders reads "The quorum of the Parliament required
by Article 73 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic
of Sri Lanka is twenty including the person presiding. If at any time
the attention of Mr. Speaker or other person is directed to the
fact that a quorum is not present he shall order the division bells
to be rung and if at the expiration of five minutes a quorum not
be present he shall adjourn Parliament without questions". Speaker Joseph Michael Perera said the quorum is not a serious issue at the committee stages unless a person raises the question but during the Budget proceedings the quorum is vital. Unions
seek meeting with CBK over bus co. sale "The bus
system which was peoplised by the government of Prime Minister Bandaranaike
in 1956, was sold today on the stock market by the UNF government,"
the letter stated. "We worked hard to prevent this happening. However from now onwards we seek your intervention, and have come to a decision to discuss this matter with you," it said. On Thursday,
IBIS, a British company paid Rs. 1450 million and bought 39 percent
of the shares of six cluster bus companies. Britain's Trans Bus
Company and Mayflower Company of which former British PM John Major
is a Director are also members of this consortium. A local partner
in this venture is LATEC Engineering and Management Services Company. The six bus companies concerned are Colombo Metropolitan, Kalutara, Gampaha, Rajarata, Sabaragamuwa and Mahanuwara. Short-listed
tenderers not qualified, says rejected firm The company
which had submitted a tender for the printing of passports on behalf
of a Singapore company was one of the 11 firms which had tendered. Although the
tender was called in October last year, none of the applicants have
been informed of the result. This company
alleges that of the two companies short-listed, the Malaysian company
has not printed passports for two countries, which was one of the
specifications required in the tender documents. It also alleges
that the other company is the present printer, which it alleges
has made many security breaches in the printing. "The former
Controller of Immigration had a file on this particular company
due to the security breaches in the printing", an official
of the eliminated company said. He said after
almost a year, his company had still not been informed that it had
been eliminated and that the names of the short-listed ones have
been forwarded to the Finance Ministry. Meanwhile,
Secretary to the Interior Ministry M.N. Junaid said the decision
on the tender had been made by the Cabinet Appointed Tender Board.
"We have sent the sub-Cabinet Paper to the Finance Ministry for its observations", he said.
The rice had
been sent from the Kelaniya warehouse under the World Food Programme
project. The Trincomalee
medical officer who inspected the rice on Friday said it was infected
with worms and insects. An angry Trincomalee
parliamentarian R Sampanthan later carried a bag of this bad rice
to the Government Agent, complaining that despite repeated complaints
about poor quality rice the authorities were continuing to send
bad stuff. Deputy Planning Director. N. Puhendran said, later a Rehabilitation Ministry official had informed him that ten lorry loads of quality Australian rice would be sent to Trincomalee replacing the spoilt stock. Rain-damaged
roads affect traffic flow DIG Traffic
Daya Jayasundera told The Sunday Times he had instructed the Division
Traffic OICs to meet Road Development Authority officials and get
the roads done up. SSP Traffic
Alfred Wijewardena said his officers had collected data regarding
potholes and other damages on the roads and had informed the CMC
and RDA works division to take steps regarding them. The worst affected
areas are Prince of Wales Avenue, Cotta Road and Mattakkuliya where
the new bridge connects Hendala, SSP Wijewardena said. In Pettah, Baseline Road, Dematagoda and surrounding areas repairing of traffic lights has not been effected despite the CMC and RDA having been informed, he said. |
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