The Court of Appeal has further suspended carrying out activities related to conducting Local Government (LG) Elections for institutions where petitions have been filed challenging the rejection of nomination papers.

Accordingly, the court once again ordered Returning Officers to halt the election process related activities of the Colombo Municipal Council and several other local government bodies until tomorrow (03).

The petitions were taken up for further hearing today, during which an agreement was reached to accept nominations that included original birth certificates from among the previously rejected submissions.

As a result, the court issued an additional directive preventing further election-related steps from being taken for the affected local government institutions—except for the nominations that have been agreed to be accepted—until further proceedings.

The court subsequently adjourned further hearings until this afternoon.

So far, nearly 30 petitions have been filed in the Court of Appeal by parties including the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UNFPA), ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance, and several independent groups, challenging the rejection of nomination papers for multiple local government bodies, including the Colombo Municipal Council.

(adaderana.lk)

(Except for the headline, this story, originally published by adaderana.lk has not been edited by SLM staff)

Speaker of the Parliament – Dr. Jagath Wickremeratne has informed that the motion to remove Deshabandu Tennakoon, who is in remand custody, from his post as Inspector General of Police (IGP), will be presented to parliament on April 08.

The announcement was made during the meeting of the Committee on Parliament Affairs which was held today (April 02).

 The Food Policy and Security Committee has recommended the importation of rice in the near future to ensure an uninterrupted supply for consumers.  

A notable increase in rice prices has been observed in the market, along with reports of shortages in certain rice varieties, despite the current harvest season.

Given this situation, discussions were held regarding the need for the Cabinet to prioritize the maintenance of sufficient stock levels through rice imports.  

The Committee, chaired by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation K.D. Lalkantha and Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Vasantha Samarasinghe, convened for the fifth time at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (01). The meeting aimed to formulate policy decisions to ensure food security.  

During the discussions, it was revealed that due to excessive rainfall this year, crop damage occurred on two occasions, leading to a significant reduction in the expected harvest.

Furthermore, during the meeting it was stated that the improper use of rice for animal feed is another major reason contributing to the rice shortage. As a result, the Committee also focused on the importation of broken rice for animal feed and the use of alternative feeds to mitigate the impact on livestock production.  

Accordingly, the Food Policy and Security Committee approved the formation of a Committee, led by the Director General of Agriculture, to oversee the importation of the required quantity of broken rice through proper mechanisms.  

Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri, Senior Additional Secretary to the President Kapila Janaka Bandara, and other members of the Food Policy and Security Committee, including Ministry Secretaries, also participated in the discussions.

(President’s Media Division)