Uva Chief Minister chamara surrenders, granted bail

Camelia Nathaniel-Wednesday, January 24, 2018

The Uva Province Chief Minister Chamara Sampath Dassanayake who surrendered to the Badulla Police yesterday through his attorney was later granted bail after being produced before the Badulla District Court.

He was facing charges of having made the Badulla Tamil Maha Vidyalaya Principal kneel before him, for not accepting a letter given by him for the admission of a student to that school.

He surrendered to the Badulla Police last morning and was produced before the Badulla District Court yesterday afternoon.

Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has instructed the Education Secretary Sunil Hettiarachchi to conduct an investigation into the incident on the manner in which the zonal education officials and the principal had acted with regard to this issue. He also ordered an investigation into the actions of the Chief Minister and whether he had put pressure on education officers.

The Minister noted that initially with the said principal denying these allegations it had seemed like a political incident, but with the information into the incident coming to light, the need for a comprehensive investigation had arisen.

Therefore, the Education Minister had instructed his Secretary to investigate allegations leveled against the Uva Provincial Education Secretary and other education officials for having tried to hide the incident and the manner in which they had acted and give him a detailed report pertaining to this incident.

Ceylon Teacher’s Union General Secretary, Joseph Stalin expressed objection to the Chief Minister being granted bail. The Ceylon Teacher’s Union staged a protest in Armour Street, Colombo in protest of the leniency shown towards the Chief Minister.

“This is a complete drama and we are totally against the Chief Minister being granted bail. Further, none of the education officials including the Provincial Education Secretary, Director and others were penalised for having tried to cover up this incident.

"They should have been removed for having acted in this manner, but nothing was done,” he told the Daily News.

Stalin warned that they would continue their action until those responsible for this incident are punished accordingly.