News

Housing Ministry Secretary added to Admin Officers’ Pool

Published

7 months ago

November 14, 2022

editor

Urban Development and Housing Ministry Secretary Pradeep Rathnayake has been referred to the Pool of Administrative Officers under the Public Administration Ministry over misconduct committed when he was the Matara District Secretary.

Internal sources at the Public Administration Ministry said that this decision has been taken by the Presidential Secretariat after receiving the preliminary investigation report of the inquiry into the matter.

Mr. Ratnayake was scheduled to retire at the end of this year.

Ministry secretaries are managed through the Presidential Secretariat.

The government has focused on emptying the pool of administrative officers and the Public Administration Ministry said the officials who are in this pool will be employed in temporary positions.

Former Sports Ministry Secretary Anuradha Wijekoon was also in this pool but he was appointed as an Additional Secretary of the Public Administration Ministry recently.

Action to be taken against more..

Meanwhile, it was reported that the Ministry is focusing on transferring several senior and junior administrative officials employed in the Peliyagoda, Kelaniya, Gampaha, Wattala and Ja-ela areas over incidents of misconduct.

Most of them have been accused of complicity in granting permits to construct unauthorised buildings, endangering public health and complicity in constructing substandard roads.

Special attention has also been paid on the complaints received to the Bribery Commission via the Public Administration Ministry against these officials.

Meanwhile, a reliable source revealed that a report is being prepared at the Western Province Governor’s Office regarding the state officials who disregard the instructions of the Governor.

A special programme has also been implemented at the Presidential Secretariat to collect data of administrative officials against whom allegations have been made through the media.

News

CMC’s receivable income exceeds Rs.6,200mn in 2022!

Published

2 hours ago

June 9, 2023

editor

The receivable income of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) for the year 2022 was Rs.6,280.50 million, it was revealed during the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) meeting.

This was revealed when the COPA met in Parliament on June 06 under the chairmanship of State Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna to examine the Auditor General’s reports and current performance of the Colombo Municipal Council for the years 2020/2021.

The CMC’s total receivable income of the year 2021 is Rs.5,835.6 million, Rs.5,386.4 million in 2022 and Rs.4,481.5 million in 2019. It was found that these arrears are in the form of assessment tax, rent and other taxes.

Accordingly, the officials who were present pointed out that they are making arrangements to acquire the properties where the taxes are in arrears.

They said that there are issues related to the identification of the owners of certain properties, and that there is also a shortage of CMC officials available to look into these matters.

The COPA member MPs pointed out that assessment numbers have been given for unauthorized constructions as well.

Accordingly, the committee recommended that a programme should be prepared with specific dates to recover the arrears and a full report should be submitted to the COPA by July 06, 2023.

It was also revealed that the private companies contracted to collect parking fees have continued to default on the monthly rent due to the CMC and the amount of arrears to be collected from 38 companies as at December 31, 2021, was Rs. 265 million.

BIZ

Parliament SOC recommends not to privatise SLT

Published

2 hours ago

June 9, 2023

editor

The Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on National Security has said that it does not recommend the privatisation of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT).

This was stated in a report issued by the SOC on National Security headed by MP Sarath Weerasekera.

The report said that matters sensitive to national security can be exposed through the privatisation of SLT.

News

Fonseka resigns from SOC on National Security

Published

2 hours ago

June 9, 2023

editor

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has resigned from the Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on National Security, Deputy Speaker Ajith Rajapakshe announced in Parliament today (09).

He said MP Rauff Hakeem has been appointed to the vacant position instead.