The Court of Appeal ordered that three petitions filed against State Minister Sanath Nishantha over contempt of court be taken up again on September 27.
The petitions were taken up before the Judge Bench comprising of Court of Appeal President Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and Justice A. Marikkar today (13).
The Deputy Solicitor General, who appeared for the Attorney General, informed the court that a voice test is needed to be conducted in relation to the complaint and it needs to be done in the presence of the officials of the Government Analyst’s Department.
The lawyer representing the Sri Lanka Judicial Officers’ Association which had also submitted a petition said that they have no objection to maintain this petition without such an investigation.
Accordingly, the petition was ordered to be taken up again on September 27.
The petitioners said that Mr. Nishantha, who spoke at a news briefing held at the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna head office on or around August 23, 2022 criticized the way the Magistrates acted when granting bail to Aragalaya activists.
The National Transport Commission (NTC) has said that an investigation into the recent incident where a student fell from the footboard of a ‘Sisu Sariya’ school bus, has revealed that the accident had resulted from the careless and negligent behaviour of both the driver and the conductor.
Issuing a statement, the NTC noted that, based on the preliminary findings, the Road Passenger Transport Authority of the North Western Province has taken steps to temporarily suspend the services of the driver and conductor involved.
Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation – K.D. Lal Kantha has announced that the government has decided to import 300,000 MT of maize.
Speaking to the media after attending a District Development Committee meeting at the Kandy District Secretariat yesterday (July 03), the Minister explained that this decision was taken to prevent traders from artificially inflating maize prices.
He stated that certain large and medium-scale businesses dealing with animal feed have been hoarding maize, buying it from farmers at fair prices and reselling it at much higher rates.
According to the Minister, these traders were trying to push maize prices up to Rs.190-200 per kilogram, which would have driven up the cost of eggs to Rs.200 each and increased meat prices significantly.
The Minister emphasized that while businesses are entitled to make a profit, the government will not allow unfair price manipulation. He also noted that, in the past, even ministers profited from animal products, but those days have ended and racketeers will not be allowed to control the market.
To prevent excessive price drops that could hurt farmers, the Food Security Committee has proposed imposing a tax on imported maize, he said.
