Inspectors take promotion dispute to SC
By Laila Nasry
A fundamental rights application filed by twelve police inspectors challenging the promotions to the rank of Chief Inspector has been granted leave to proceed by the Supreme Court.

The petitioners, Inspector Manoj Ranagala and eleven others, citing acting Police Chief Indra de Silva and 290 others as respondents, claim that the promotions are arbitrary as they were effected in terms of what they called an unfair circular that amalgamated the Special Task Force (STF) and the Regular Force into one category for the purpose of promotion.

The petitioners state that the two forces are two distinct bodies and that such an amalgamation is unfair as it could lead to a situation where officers of the STF will be appointed to positions available in the regular force thereby depriving the regular force officers of their rightful promotions.

The petitioners claim that the Supreme Court in a judgment with regard to a similar case had called for the devising of an independent scheme for promotion, but the authorities have not complied with the ruling.

The twelve inspectors also allege that the appointments had been effected without prior interviews being conducted and the appointments have also been antedated in violation of the Establishments Code.

The petitioners pray for a declaration that their fundamental rights have been violated and seek an order quashing the promotions based on the amalgamated list. They also seek interim relief staying the appointments until the final determination of the case. The case will be taken up on January 22.

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