Colombo (LNW): The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) responded to certain misinterpretations of facts currently being circulated on media relating to Indian Rupee.
In a statement, the CB clarified that the main purpose of authorising foreign currencies as designated foreign currencies is to promote trade and investment relations between Sri Lanka and other countries, but the legal tender for domestic payments and settlements will remain as Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR).
“The authorisation of Indian Rupee (INR) as a designated currency does not make it a legal tender in Sri Lanka for domestic payments/settlements, and any transaction executed between or among residents in Sri Lanka shall be in LKR, being the legal tender in Sri Lanka,” the CB emphasised.
Full statement:
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) wishes to clarify certain misrepresentations of facts currently circulating in the public domain on Indian Rupee (INR).
CBSL from time to time, authorises selected foreign currencies as designated foreign currencies with a view to facilitating international trade and cross-border banking transactions. Commencing May 1979, CBSL has occasionally recognised designated foreign currencies. Currently, following16 currencies have been authorised as designated foreign currencies under the provisions of the Banking Act and the Foreign Exchange Act, with the latest inclusion being the INR in August 2022.
List of designated foreign currencies
Australian Dollar
Canadian Dollar
Chinese Renminbi
Danish Kroner
Euro
Hongkong Dollar
Indian Rupee
Japanese Yen
New Zealand Dollar
Norwegian Kroner
Pound Sterling
Singapore Dollar
Swedish Kroner
Swiss Franc
Thai Baht
United States Dollar
The main purpose of authorising foreign currencies as designated foreign currencies is to promote trade and investment relations between the two countries. Further, it would reduce the additional transaction costs associated with dual conversion and will support promoting trade transactions through the formal banking channel. The legal tender in Sri Lanka for domestic payments and settlements will remain as Sri Lanka Rupees (LKR).
Trade between Sri Lanka and India has grown rapidly after the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement which came into force in March 2000. In view of the expanding economic activities between India and Sri Lanka, particularly in promoting existing trade relations between the two countries, on several occasions CBSL has communicated to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Monetary Authority of India, its willingness to authorise INR as a designated foreign currency in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, in August 2022, with the concurrence of RBI, INR was authorised by CBSL as a designated foreign currency in Sri Lanka. However, the use of INR as a designated foreign currency in Sri Lanka is subject to any restrictions imposed by RBI.
Authorising INR as a designated foreign currency would bring many advantages to Sri Lanka including the facilitation of smooth banking transactions relating to INR especially for small-scale traders, encouraging traders to use banking channels for trade transactions over informal channels, reducing additional transaction costs associated with the dual conversion of INR into USD and thereafter into LKR and vice-versa. Moreover, since India remains a large source country for tourism in Sri Lanka, authorising INR as a designated foreign currency for banking transactions would add more convenience to Indian tourists.
The authorisation of INR as a designated currency does not make INR a legal tender in Sri Lanka for domestic payments/settlements. Any transaction executed between or among residents in Sri Lanka shall be in LKR, being the legal tender in Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, CBSL requests the public not to be misled by the misrepresentation of facts circulating in the public domain on INR.
Colombo (LNW): More than 5,400 (5,450) graduates will be recruited as teachers in the teaching service as approved by the Cabinet, announced Minister of Education Susil Premjayanth.
The decision aims to address the shortage of qualified teachers and improve the quality of education in the country, and these graduates will undergo training to equip them with necessary skills for their roles as teachers.
Colombo (LNW): All inmates at the Vavuniya Prison who had not received the measles vaccines were vaccinated, announced the Epidemiology Unit, days after it was revealed that there is a measles outbreak in the prison.
The Unit added that all necessary instructions have been given to control the spread of measles within the prison.
Four inmates were diagnosed with measles and the prison is off-limit since July 25.
There are about 400 inmates in the Vavuniya Prison.
Colombo (LNW): Plans are in place to provide the first instalment of the ‘Aswesuma’ Welfare Benefit Scheme for selected beneficiaries within the first week of August, announced the Welfare Benefits Board.
The Board added that around 95 per cent of the beneficiaries bank accounts have been opened, and it will be prioritised at state banks.
These instalments will be under the value of Rs. 15,000, Rs. 8,500 and Rs. 5,000, it added.
Whilst more than 500,000 people who received allowances for the elderly, differently-abled and kidney patients are also being included to the sceheme, the Board noted.
Two million beneficiaries will receive the funds directly through bank accounts, it added.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies takes over Sahasya Investment Limited and National Equipment and Machinery Organisation under the Ministry of Transport and Highways and the Ministry of Urban Development.
China’s leading energy and chemical company Sinopec commences discharging their first cargo from Mt. SI CHOU ZHI LU, petrol and diesel 4950MT: The second cargo to be discharged today: 12 fuel stations to start operations immediately and up to 150 island wide will operate as planned.
Public Security Minister Tiran Alles suspends the notice calling for EOIs for e-passports and proceeds with a regular tender process, after receiving a series of complaints on technical errors in the notice: The Cabinet approves the paper put forward by Alles proposing the appointment of a technical assessment committee to assess the affairs pertaining to the matter and calling of tenders in consideration of the country’s economic situation.
The Agriculture Ministry announces the local poultry producers have agreed to slash the price of chicken by Rs. 100 per kilogram.
Veteran Journalist, Actor and Dubbing Artist Lal Sarath Kumara has passed away aged 69: Kumara was well known for dubbing Julius Caesar in Sinhala in the hit cartoon classic ‘Astreix and Obelix,’ which aired on Sirasa TV as ‘Soora Pappa.’
The Foreign Employment Bureau announces dates for the 2023 Skill tests for Japan Specified Skilled Jobs (SSW): Skill tests will be held in August and September 2023, and include basic language tests, nursing care workers, the food service industry, and agriculture: Applicants are requested to register through prometric website – http://ac.prometric-jp.com/testlist/ssw/index.html
CB data reveals cumulative export earnings during January to June 2023 registered a 10% decrease YoY to $5.87 billion, whilst import expenditure during the same period saw a substantial decline of 18.6% YoY to $ 8.16 billion: adds the deficit in the trade account from January to June 2023 narrowed to $ 2.89 billion, a considerable improvement from the $ 3.5 billion recorded during the same period in 2022.
The Epidemiology Unit says all inmates at the Vavuniya Prison who had not received the measles vaccine were vaccinated: asserts all necessary instructions have been given to control the spread of measles within the prison: The Prison was temporarily closed after four inmates were diagnosed with measles and is off-limits since July 25.
The Welfare Benefits Board says plans are in place to provide the first instalment of the ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefit for selected beneficiaries within the first week of August: adds around 95% of the beneficiaries bank accounts have been opened, and it will be prioritised at state banks: The instalments to be provided to the beneficiaries under the values of Rs.15,000, Rs.8,500 and Rs.5,000.
SL Chess sensation Susal De Silva writes history by progressing to the Second Round of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan: The 17-year-old to face a formidable opponent, Polish grandmaster Radoslaw Wojtaszek, in a highly anticipated two-day match, scheduled for today and tomorrow.
To anyone who may be surprised by this question, we wish to remind that not too long ago, the issue became quite big enough to get a man one year’s rigourous imprisonment even without any kind of a due process on the alleged ground that he talked loudly in court. The issue became so big that it went before the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) under the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Sri Lanka is a signatory to.
The gist of the UNHRC officials’ view expressed by a team of experts and judges from various countries, was that the man had been severely wronged and that his human rights guaranteed by the ICCPR and the Sri Lankan Constitution had been violated. The whole narrative of this case is well recorded in the Human Rights Committee’s official view expressed and given to the Sri Lankan Government and also publicised internationally. This judgment is also part of the international laws on several issues, including that of contempt of court.
In a YouTube presentation published recently, Mr. Michael Anthony Emmanuel Fernando, the man who had to suffer this ordeal, described what happened in court. He filed a petition on a simple issue which was dismissed and he filed it for the second time and with the request that the Chief Justice of the time should not hear the case. However, the Chief Justice presided over a panel of three Judges and heard the case himself. The question that the Chief Justice asked Mr. Fernando was the grounds for making the application. Mr. Fernando who was appearing on his own and did not have a lawyer replied that he was referring to Article 12(1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka which guarantees equality before the law. Mr. Fernando narrates that as he was finishing reading this particular section from the Constitution, the Chief Justice ordered from the Bench that he will add one month more to every word that Mr. Fernando would say any further, adding to the one year of rigourous imprisonment that was imposed there and then immediately against Mr. Fernando. He was sent from the Court directly to jail and spent the total period of the sentence. It was a few days later that the judgment was written which merely said that he was sentenced for contempt of court for speaking loudly in Court. For the UNHRC case, kindly see Communication Number 1189/2003 and for Mr. Tony Fernando published in YouTube, kindly click here.
Thus, this question of how loudly you can talk in court is not some kind of a triviality or some sort of fictional question but had been something for which a Sri Lankan citizen had to pay by one year of rigourous imprisonment. Now that the new Bill relating to Contempt of Court is being discussed, the issue of how to determine what in fact contempt of court consists of has become a matter of concern not only for litigants but also a matter of anxiety for a number of lawyers. More anxious are the lawyers who take serious legal objections to various matters during court proceedings and who engage in the use of their full freedom as lawyers in the cross examination of witnesses and of making submissions particularly on controversial matters. There is anxiety expressed whether the tone of their voice or a gesture that they might make or a serious question they may raise to the jurisdiction or other matters that may arise in court may lead to allegations of contempt of court. Given Tony Fernando’s experience, their concerns cannot be regarded as exaggeration. If, as it was expected, it is the common law principles relating to contempt of court that applied, this ambiguity would not have arisen. The contempt of court in the United Kingdom and similar law in other Commonwealth countries have clearly expressed the limited scope of this offence. It is indeed a very limited area that a contempt of court law covers. The contempt of court issue looks into several fundamental matters essential to the functioning of impartial and independent judicial proceedings. The first is that there should be not only actual independence exercised by the court but it should also appear to be independent. The word independent comes from the philosophical roots. It comes from the ideas of critical enquiry. The whole judicial process differs from anything that may go in the name of legislative activity or Executive activity in that the court processes must strictly operate within the highest traditions of the critical exercise of reason. Reason is a difficult matter. If reason was very easy in fact, a judicial system of the nature that many countries have will not be needed.
It has been the great debate throughout history, particularly since the writing of Immanuel Kant on the critique of pure reason that the whole process of critical examination is developed into a highly sophisticated philosophical discipline. Modern courts are from the period of enlightenment and as a product of enlightenment, they have to manifest the highest form of loyalty to respect reason.
With the development of empiricism, the court system was also exposed to the philosophical developments that took place in Europe in terms of Jeremy Bentham and his theories on utilitarianism and the cultural foundations of enquiries into truth were more and more formulated on the basis of these philosophical considerations. The essence of what was later known as the scientific methods was that you arrived at the approximation of truth only by doubting the material before you. A scientist engaged in any kind of enquiry, is essentially fighting a case against himself, trying to disprove with reason what he/she might believe or know so far. When all the arguments are exhausted and still there is a certain matter that cannot be challenged on available evidence, then, that is taken as proof.
The exercise of courts cannot be separated from the art of proof and the art of proof cannot take place without the rigourous possibility of argumentation and that is possible in an environment in which encouragement is given in every possible way for those engaged in the contested issues to give justifications to their positions and claims. A judge exercising critical faculty and impartiality in such a situation will make a decision purely on the basis of reason applied in terms of evidence.
These are what the courts are meant to be. Therefore, any law that may operate as contempt of court should not be an obstacle to free enquiry, and independent spirit to challenge whatever positions taken by anyone with a view to help arrive at the conclusions. Preserving that process is to preserve courts. To destroy that process is to destroy the very nature of the court system.
Therefore, the very clear articulation of the limits of the contempt of court law as it has been defined in other commonwealth countries has to be seriously asserted into this debate into what contempt of court law should be in Sri Lanka.
In the common law, the application of contempt of court is limited to particular individual cases. It means that when the court proceedings are going on, no one should disturb the proceedings from taking place so that the courts can attend to their own business without being disturbed. Contempt of court means to prevent any influence made on a particular case by anyway including that of publications that have the intention to influence the outcome of a case. So long as attempts are not made to bring pressure or in any other way to influence the outcome of the case, all other matters are completely outside the scope of the contempt of court law in a common law country. However, the proposed Bill goes at a tangent into bringing all kinds of other ideas into the scope of contempt of court not so much with the direct purpose of ensuring peaceful proceedings taking place but in order to prevent discussions on the nature of the administration of justice in the country and other matters dealing with the rule of law and the functioning of legal systems into this contempt of court arena.
The global debate on contempt of court has clearly indicated that it is a sign of enlightenment of a country to keep a lively discussion on all aspects of the administration of justice including judicial reforms, judicial conduct and the like.
The Bill tried to use as an alternative to contempt of court, the respect of the court. These are two completely different concepts. Respect to the legal framework, the ability of the courts to function is one matter. However, pointing to the defects of the system, the irregularities that could occur and various defects that may develop, these all need discussions. And, it is the characteristic of an enlightened society to encourage this as it is a sign of efficiency. Thus, the purpose of contempt of court is not to create more confusion and add to inefficacy and complicate the problems of an already damaged legal system. That our legal system is seriously damaged is not disputed. It has been talked in the Parliament and every other place outside the Parliament, and is also discussed internationally and also in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and other financial agencies. Restoring the rule of law is the major challenge in the country.
The contempt of court law should be of a very limited application to prevent disturbances to legal proceedings.
The word respect in a feudal society is very different to the idea of how it is understood in a developed modern society. In the rule of law society, respect must be shown in every possible way. The people should bow down before authority, behave like half slaves before their masters or those considered superiors. Some kind of inferiority must be demonstrated before others who are made to appear as super beings. No one in a democracy is a super person. The fundamental principle of the constitution is equality before law. All citizens are equal. Therefore, that kind of respect is not what is expected towards the court. The respect for reason and the highest form of reasonable behaviour is the way to pay the greatest respect to the courts.
Concurrence of the Cabinet of Ministers was decided to be granted for the following programme presented by the President in relation to the payment of benefits with immediate effect under the ‘Aswesuma’ Social Welfare Benefit Programme.
• 1,792,265 beneficiaries have been selected for the initial step of Aswesuma programme by the Welfare Benefits Board and payments to be made for 1,588,835 beneficiaries in regard to whom no appeals or objections were received.
• Payment of benefits entitled under the category to which beneficiaries have been selected until a final decision is given after reviewing appeals of 84,374 beneficiaries who has submitted appeals for been included in the higher category although have been selected as beneficiaries.
• Objections have been submitted against 119,056 individuals from the selected beneficiaries and payment of benefits until the review process conducted in regard to the said objections have been finalized.
• 393,097 individuals who enjoy Samurdhi benefits at present and not been selected although have been applied for benefits under the programme to be paid the benefits under the Samurdhi programme until the appeals and objections review process is totally completed under the Aswesuma programme.
• Further payment of already paid kidney disease allowance and disability allowance through the Divisional Secretariates and further payment of elders’ allowance through the Post Offices.
• Further payment of allowance to 11,660 individuals who are in care giving homes or religious places and suffering from kidney disease, disabilities or due to been elders.
On the larger questions raised by the arrest of Tharindu Uduwaragedera, a young journalist of very wide reputation. Tharindu Uduwaragedera who was attending a meeting on Friday (28 July) for the purpose of reporting on the meeting was forcibly dragged out of a three-wheeler, grabbed by his hair and roughly manhandled by a group of Police officers despite the journalist loudly explaining that he was merely present to report on the protest meeting that was taking place. In fact, he was seated in a three-wheeler, from where he was dragged out in a mean and ugly manner, most unbecoming of members of any law enforcement agency.
Thanks to the available photos and videos, this whole incident was vividly and widely circulated in the country. Accidentally, the nature of the Police behaviour in Sri Lanka found itself vividly expressed by these photographs and videos. The arrest itself and the manner in which it was done and the manner in which the Police behaved will remain a spectacle for anyone who has any doubt about the utter degeneration to which the Police has been exposed to and the kind of behaviour that the people throughout the country are experiencing at the hands of a law enforcement agency which has gone out of control and shamelessly behaves against the law.
While the conduct of the particular officers who carried out the arrest and whoever that directed them is most reprehensible, which should concern anyone worried for the kind of societal collapse to which the law enforcement agency itself is contributing, this episode will provide lot of reasons for shock and worry about the nature of the country that Sri Lanka has become.
An overwhelming economic crisis has already bewildered the population. Forty per cent of the population lives under the poverty line and a large portion of that population is suffering from serious forms of malnutrition. Malnutrition and the expressions of acute poverty are the most visible aspects of the life and conditions of the country today. Also, this situation is many times aggravated by the reports of alleged deaths due to the medical negligence of many sorts and these deaths are being reported daily. The unbelievable tales of sheer neglect either on the part of medical staff or much more on the part of the bureaucracies that are handling these departments are the stuff through which the people are living through.
The manner in which conditions of life is becoming ever more unbearable and difficult need not be described in great detail as every Sri Lankan, including the ones living abroad and receive the daily dose of news, are fully aware of the bewildering reality that is unfolding throughout the country.
The larger question that affects all these issues is a total lack of concern by anyone who bears responsibility, legally or morally, being almost totally absent in the present situation. The kind of spectacle that was shown in the arrest of Tharindu would have caused severe reactions in any decent society both from its Parliament, its other political authority and in also those who hold positions of responsibility in the running of the country’s law enforcement and security systems.
Had there been any such concern, such arrests would not have happened at all. There is an underlying encouragement for barbaric behaviour within the law enforcement agencies themselves, encouraged by the top most persons who are responsible for the running of these institutions. It is sad to see that those who are thus in charge think that running the system badly is the way to maintain social control. Thus, there is a deliberately encouraged behaviour that is quite manifest in this and many other incidents in the country. If we contrast this behaviour of what occurred in relation to the incident to drunken driving by Minister of Justice in New Zealand, we see the contrast between civilisation and barbarism. In New Zealand, after a few drinks, when the Minister was driving his vehicle, he knocked into another vehicle and by the next day morning, he had resigned from his Ministerial post and his position as a Member of Parliament, and also withdrew from holding any public office in the future. He apologised to the whole nation. Contrast that with what happened in terms of this arrest in Sri Lanka and many barbaric treatments in the areas of food distribution, public health, education and every other field.
It is not even a matter of shame any longer to be pointed out that this is the sheer barbaric way of ruling a country. You may repeat such condemnations many times but no one hears these protests. When even the protest against such behaviour is not heard, then, what could and how could anything positive happen within those circumstances. This is where the Sri Lankan society, particularly the more educated, has completely failed the nation.
It is true that except for a brief period of early British colonialism, the kind of society that prevailed in Sri Lanka at least from approximately 8th Century Anno Domini (AD) – 19th Century AD, was a barbaric system based on draconian caste based organisational principles. There were those who proudly proclaimed in the 20th Century and thereafter, that we have arrived in times different from the ones where the principles of caste organisation which were provisions of social mobility and disproportionate and unequal society, were the basis of running the society. Barbarism was then the unavoidable fate of the larger section of the population in both the Sinhala and Tamil communities, the majority of whom were considered ‘lesser’ humans. They did not deserve the protection or to be treated as human beings.
If we were deluded with the idea that reforms have come to this society, democracy has been established and the rule of law exists in this country, then all that is happening belies this belief.
Unless the people themselves intervene immediately to bring about a radical Police reform, Sri Lanka as a rule of law society and democracy have no future at all. The centerpiece for any change is radical Police reform.
The first step is that the present Minister of law enforcement should apologise to the nation for what happened and accept responsibility for this incident and others perpetrated by the Police and others connected with illegal actors, as his own responsibility. There should be someone to accept responsibility, without which no State can survive.
Lawlessness is no solution to the worst economic crisis that the country is faced with. If the type of reforms needed for the country to recover, then it is important that the rule of law is restored and stability is created. While it is easy to talk of solutions to problems, such as improved discipline of the economy by various means including privatisation, reforms cannot be achieved so long as there is a violence prone law enforcement agency in the country.
Colombo (LNW): After receiving a series of complaints on technical errors in the notice calling for Expressions of Interest (EOI) for electronic passports (e-passports), Public Security Minister Tiran Alles has decided to suspend the notice and call for tenders.
The Cabinet paper put forward by Alles proposing the appointment of a technical assessment committee to assess the affairs pertaining to the matter and calling of tenders in consideration of the country’s economic situation has been approved by the Cabinet.
The EOI notice for e-passports was subjected to a series of complaints by those who had forwarded their EOIs claiming that it consists of many technical errors. Taking the matter into consideration, the Minister has called off the process and decided to proceed with the general procurement process.
More than seven hundred thousand e-passports ought to be issued per year and the affair may cost about US $15 million, a senior ministry official disclosed.
In addition, millions of dollars have to be spent on the machines used to issue the passports and the issuance of e-passports, therefore, has become a burden attracting a high cost, he revealed.
Colombo (LNW): The state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has given up its monopoly over the oil industry after 62 years following the opening up the petroleum imports storage distribution and sell to Sinopec, a leading Chinese energy and chemical company with effect from yesterday.
.Correcting a historic a mistake, the government was taking steps to allow multinational oil companies to recommence operations in Sri Lanka. The petroleum sector was nationalised in the early 1960s and the CPC was given a monopoly.
An agreement was also signed recently at the Presidential Secretariat, between the Government of Sri Lanka and RM Parks Inc., a prominent international company operating in collaboration with Shell, marking a significant step towards securing a long-term contract for the importation, storage, distribution, and sale of petroleum products in the country.
Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera announced the first fuel cargo from Sinopec, a leading Chinese energy and chemical company, has commenced discharging, with the second cargo expected to arrive today.
Taking to Twitter, he said the entry of new retail suppliers to the domestic market holds the promise of easing the country’s foreign exchange requirements for petroleum products, a development that is set to fuel economic growth.
Minister Wijesekera said the new retail suppliers are poised to alleviate forex pressures by adopting a 12-month financing facility from their principal investors.
This move marks a strategic step towards bolstering forex efficiency and optimising the import process for petroleum products.
“Sinopec will commence retail petroleum operations with 150 fuel stations islandwide once the agreements with the fuel station dealers are signed and finalised,” he added.
On 14 July, Sinopec Energy Lanka Ltd., signed an agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI) for a $ 100 million investment in the import, storage, and sale of petroleum in Sri Lanka.
As part of this endeavour, Sinopec will have a total of 200 fuel stations countrywide, by assuming the control of 150 privately-owned fuel outlets currently operated by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), and by additional 50 new filling stations.
Sinopec will offer a wide range of petroleum products through its fuel stations, including 92 and 95-octane petrol, 500 PPM diesel, diesel 10 COPPM, petroleum jet fuel, and other diesel and petroleum products.
