• Concern having access to and receiving Govt. services, and participating in national democratic processes  

Registered and permanent, personalised, residential and postal addresses for estate workers play a crucial and essential role in ensuring that these individuals have access to and can receive Government services, and can participate in the democratic process of the country.

This was observed in a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition filed in the Supreme Court (SC) in the public interest and on behalf of the community of plantation sector estate workers and their families, by an estate worker, over the lack of and denial of registered and permanent, personal, residential, postal addresses allocated to their residences for the past 200 years. Through the petition, socio-economic justice is sought in the form of the granting of registered permanent addresses to the residents of all island-wide estates.

The petitioner has prayed for a registered postal address to their individual residences instead of a common address given to an entire estate.

The petition was filed on 30 March. The petitioner is Jeewarathnam Sureshkumar who was born and raised in a residential house in the Muwankanda Watta Estate (belonging to the Lalan Rubber Plantation Company), the Udugama Grama Niladhari Domain, Meethanwala (Number 669), the Mawathagama Divisional Secretariat (DS), the Kurunegala District, the North Western Province. The respondents include the Ministers and Secretaries of the Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils (PCs) and Local Government (LG) Ministry, the Plantation Industries, and Industries Ministries, the Water Supply, and Estate Infrastructure Development Ministry, the Transport and Highways, and Mass Media Ministries, the Plantation Human Development Trust, the State Plantations Corporation (SPC) (which manages approximately 14 plantations) and its Chairperson, the Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) (which manages approximately 277 plantations where around 400,000 reside) and its Chairperson, Lalan Rubbers Private Limited in the Biyagama Export Processing Zone, the National Livestock Development Board (NLDB) (which manages approximately 31 farms) and its Chairperson, the Postmaster General, and the Attorney General (AG).

Citing the historical denial of citizenship (which has, however, since been rectified) and instances of deportation, the petition notes that estate workers, the majority of whom are Malayaha Tamils of Indian origin, have faced various challenges in determining their existence based on land ownership despite the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognising the land rights of citizens as a basic human right. The community of estate workers, who are labourers employed in the plantation sector's tea, rubber and coconut estates, has been provided accommodation in the form of line room based residential houses given by the plantation companies which do not, however, give any legal ownership to the residents over the lands.

According to the petitioner, in his Estate, where approximately 300 families reside, cultivating and collecting the harvests of coconut, rubber (including cutting latex), pepper, and cinnamon, and cleaning, none of these households have a permanent postal address and permanent residential address for their houses, and hence do not receive any mail (letters and postal items) personally to their houses or their name. All mail is collectively received by the public address - Muwankanda Watta, Mawathagama - which is common to all the resident families, at the Mawathagama Main Post Office, the latter which delivers these letters in bulk to the Muwankanda Sub-Post Office, from where they are then delivered in bulk to the Muwankanda Estate Superintendent who then arranges these letters to be delivered through an unreliable agent to the persons residing in the said Estate to whom the particular letters are addressed. However, the petitioner claims that the letters which are not delivered properly to the respective recipients, are often stacked in a box at the Muwankanda Estate Office, and that most of these letters are often destroyed or misplaced, and further that in certain instances, the Post Office redirects the letters due to the unavailability of a permanent address for the recipients.

As a result, the residents face a number of inconveniences and the lack of privileges.

Due to the fact that these residents do not have a personalised address to each house, the petitioner further claims that his fellow estate residents undergo a number of issues when seeking to accomplish essential tasks such as applying for jobs, registering births, applying for a death certificate, getting married, registering for examinations, opening a bank account, enrolling in a school, in matters pertaining to Police investigations, getting a national identity card (NIC), receiving Governmental allowances such as the Samurdhi, the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF), in receiving gratuities, and in connection with other personal matters. One of the critical requirements for obtaining a NIC and registering to vote is having a registered residential address which is an official address where an individual lives and can receive Government documents such as tax forms and voting ballots.

Furthermore, the petitioner Sureshkumar has cited numerous instances of estate residents facing a myriad other related issues: one resident at an estate in Kotapola having lost a Government job opportunity due to not receiving the letter sent to him calling him for an interview on a particular date; one resident in an estate in Passara facing inconvenience because there are several people who reside in the same estate who go by the same name as he does, the letters that are supposed to be received by him are often received by another person and are not returned to him as they often get destroyed by the person who receives them; one residing in an estate in Akuressa not being able to attend the free health clinic as she had not received the letter sent by the clinic, and elsewhere, not receiving a letter sent by a bank; a case filed by a resident in an estate in Pitigala against the estate superintendent in relation to the ETF and EPF being dismissed over her not receiving the documents that were mandatory for the case on a relevant date, and therefore, having to re-file the case; one resident of an estate in Udugama not being able to sit for examinations due to not receiving the documents necessary for attending while another from the same estate who pawned her jewellery, claiming that the said jewellery had been forfeited to the bank due to not receiving the notice sent to her for the recovery of the jewellery; one resident of an estate in Thawalama being produced in court for a particular issue due to not receiving a letter sent by the relevant Mediation Board; one resident of an estate in Udugama having to pay a large sum of interest over not receiving the relevant documents pertaining to the mortgage of their motorbike; and one resident of an estate in Wanduramba being unable to attend an interview due to not receiving the selection letter to the relevant Teachers’ Training College.

Similarly, the respective Government Departments, Ministries, and private entities too face inconveniences when dealing with the residents of this area, the petition noted.

Moreover, even though there are about 244,500 families and a population of 966,700 living in the plantation sector, only four of the 4,691 post offices, less than a 10th of 1%, are located within estates, according to the Department of Posts. Therefore, the mail that is to be received by people residing in estates is still received at the common public address while in certain instances, the letters and mail are received at the line number, polling number, or house number that is given by the estate.

In this regard, the petitioner has also taken action such as complaining to the Human Rights Commission, and writing letters and filing Right to Information requests to the Postal Management Training College, to be informed of the criteria utilised to provide postal services for estate residents, the Ministry of Internal and Home Affairs and PCs and LG, requesting information regarding obtaining permanent addresses for estate residents (the Ministry had, per the petition, responded stating that they do not possess information on the same and that they do not have a proper system for it), the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, on how to provide postal services to estate residents, and to the Mawathagama Pradeshiya Sabha and the Mawathagama DS, regarding the process of obtaining a permanent residential address for estate residents and the system used for the process of issuing an address to a resident.

Taking all this consideration, the petitioner claims the infringement and violation of his FR under the Constitutional Articles of 12(1) on equality before the law and equal protection of the law, 12(2) on non-discrimination and 14(h) on the freedom of movement and choice of residence.

Senior Counsel Lakshan Dias is appearing on behalf of the petitioner on the instructions of Attorney Kasuni Herath.