Immigration officers are to file action in the Supreme Court claiming that a Cabinet decision to allow ‘enforcing officers’ to carry out immigration duties at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) amounted to a contempt of court.
The decision came after a Cabinet paper submitted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the Defence Minister, was approved to allow 131
‘enforcing officers’ who were earlier prevented by a court decision from carrying out duties at the air port to return to service.
Immigration and Emigration Authorized Officers Union Secretary Gonsal Korale said yesterday that in 2007 the Court of Appeal held that only the Controller, Deputy Controllers, Assistant Controllers and Authorized officers were allowed to carry out duties at the ports.
Accordingly ‘enforcing officers’ who were deployed in ports for duty at that time were recalled to the head office.
However, the latest Cabinet decision enables 131 enforcing officers to carry out their duties at the airport. They have already been assigned for duties at the BIA from September 1.
Mr. Korale said that permitting ‘enforcing officers’ to carry out Immigration duties was also a violation of the Immigration Act.“The ‘enforcing officers’ were those not recruited in a proper manner and some of them have been taken on political grounds. Therefore, we cannot accept these appointments,” he said.
The Immigration officers have already lodged a complaint with the Controller General of Immigration.
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