• Demands Power & Energy Min. Secys. and CEB Chairs responsible to be surcharged  

In the wake of the Supreme Court (SC) ordering the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to pay a compensation sum of Rs. one million to the Vavuniya Solar Power (Private) Limited Company following the hearing of a fundamental rights petition filed by the latter, the Electricity Consumers' Association (ECA) emphasised that the said sum should be collected from the relevant officials who have neglected their duties and responsibilities.

On Wednesday (20), the SC held that the position taken up by the CEB and its refusal to issue a permit for the said Company to operate a solar power generation plant in Vavuniya was contrary to the law. The SC also ordered the CEB to pay a compensation sum of Rs. one million to the petitioner as damages.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (21), the ECA General Secretary, Sanjeewa Dhammika said that it is the responsibility of the Power and Energy Ministry Secretary to ensure that the relevant sum of Rs. one million is collected from the relevant officials who have neglected their duties and responsibilities. "It is a matter of surprise that the respondent in this case, Dr. Suren Batagoda, who was the former Power and Energy Ministry Secretary, has now been appointed as an advisor to the Government. Respecting the SC's decision, the former Secretaries of the Ministry as well as the CEB Chairmen who stalled this project should be identified immediately, and the entire loss caused by the non-implementation of the project should be imposed as a surcharge on them," he said.

When the Government incurs any loss due to the negligence of a certain official, Dhammika said that there are financial regulations that enable the imposition of surcharges on them, and for the recovering of the loss. "The responsibility in this regard lies with the relevant Ministry Secretary and the Auditor General. The latter even had the ability to know early on that the CEB's decision would bring about adverse situations, but his failure to do so caused this massive loss," he claimed.

Delivering the judgement, the SC held that both the CEB and the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority had failed in the performance of their duties towards the public in encouraging projects to promote green energy sources by not issuing the relevant permits to the said Company. The SC also ordered the CEB to issue a permit to the Company in accordance with the law to operate the said solar power plant.