By Damith Wickramasekara
A bill on disposal of court productions, which will allow the government to auction off thousands of vehicles currently languishing in courts and police stations throughout the island, is to be presented to Cabinet next week.
Under provisions of the new bill, if a judge is unable to give a ruling on any vehicle that is presented as a court production within a span of three months, that vehicle can be auctioned off.
The money from the sale of that vehicle will be deposited in a Fixed Deposit (FD) account opened specifically for that purpose at a bank, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told the Sunday Times. Once the court case concludes, and the vehicle owner is cleared, he or she will be able to obtain the funds deposited in the FD account together with the interest that had accumulated. If the vehicle owner is found guilty however, the funds in the FD will be confiscated by the State.
Explaining the reasoning for presenting the new bill, Minister Rajapakshe said that there are thousands of vehicles valued at billions of rupees currently languishing at courts and police stations in many parts of the country. In some instances, the government has been forced to rent large plots of land to serve as car parks to vehicles that are being kept as court productions. The vehicles are parked at these locations, sometimes for years, falling into a state of disrepair due to lack of maintenance.
“This serves no purpose for the vehicle owner. The new legislation would at least help him or her to save the money,” said the minister.
The bill is due to be presented at the next Cabinet meeting and gazetted thereafter.
You can share this post!
Content
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament today that the suspect in the rape of a lady doctor at the Anuradhapura teaching hospital has been identified as an army deserter and he will be apprehended shortly.
Police have arrested the suspect connected to the sexual assault on a female doctor at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital today morning in Galnewa.
The Dutch Public Prosecutor suspects two companies of paying bribes in the construction of hospitals in Sri Lanka, according to an investigation by FD, the Dutch financial newspaper.
The Minister of Power, Kumara Jayakody, stated that in the future, internationally funded projects, such as power projects, will only be carried out through government-to-government (G2G) agreements and competitive procurement.
The Government today tabled in the House the Report of the Commission to Inquiry into the Establishment and Maintenance of Unlawful Places of Detention and Torture Chambers in the Batalanda Housing Scheme.
Three persons arrested on Saturday close to the Thalawila St Anne’s Church have been held under detention orders for questioning.
Leave Comments