A group of ticket inspectors of the Ceylon Government Railway or ‘CGR’, as it is better known, boarded a train bound from Panadura to Maradana. This was at Ratmalana.Learning from their past mistakes, one of them stood guard at the entrance to  compartments whilst others began checking tickets. Not surprisingly, nearly a half of those [...]

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Who can hold whose NIC

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A group of ticket inspectors of the Ceylon Government Railway or ‘CGR’, as it is better known, boarded a train bound from Panadura to Maradana. This was at Ratmalana.Learning from their past mistakes, one of them stood guard at the entrance to  compartments whilst others began checking tickets. Not surprisingly, nearly a half of those did not have tickets, a phenomenon which has contributed to losses in the CGR.

The inspectors rounded up some of them and seized their National Identity Cards (NICs). This is after it became clear that the ticketless travellers did not have Rs. 2,500 which was the fine. They were told to turn up at the CGR office before 9 a.m. on any working day, pay the fine and collect their NICs.

That the ticket inspectors were well within their right to deal with ticketless travellers is unquestionable. However, are they empowered to seize National Identity Cards? The answer seems to be a firm “no” but there is no legal provision to charge them for doing this. In the past, the practice was to produce travellers without tickets before a Magistrate’s Court where fines were imposed.

In terms of amendments introduced to the Regulations of the Registration of Persons Act of 1971, those who are legally entitled to hold NICs of other people are a Government Agent, Assistant Government Agent, An officer authorised by the GA, Grama Niladhari, Commissioner of Labour, Assistant Commissioner of Labour, Labour Officer, an officer in the Army, Navy or Air Force, any Police officer or Immigration officer.

“All others are not legally entitled to seize an NIC,” a Commissioner (Operations and Information) at the Department for the Registration of Persons told the Sunday Times. However, the law, as it stands now, does not have provision to punish those seizing NICs or to make such acts illegal.

A Police official said a greater abuse of the NICs took place in the construction industry. Shops renting out a variety of equipment like levellers, chain saws and hydraulic drills retain the NIC of the hirer as a deposit. “There were instances where unbeknownst to the hirer, the NICs have been used to obtain SIM cards for mobile phones. Such phones had been used in illegal activity,” he said.


 

Agony after ecstasy  for ole Johnny

Fun and frolic is a passionate hobby for this Johnny, a politician of no mean repute. Even if one will no longer find those cuties in their birthday clothes in the glossy Playboy magazine, here was one in flesh and blood. Of course that was oriental variety. It was near midnight signalling the dawn of Wednesday, when the elder citizen was in wonderland. Then, he had to break off.

But he did not go home. Instead, he rushed to one of Colombo’s surgical hospitals just past midnight. With the fun now over, fear gripped him. How would he attend an important event that morning? He could not wear a pair of trousers nor go in a sarong with a veritable cloth tent jutting out in front.

Doctors battled hard to soften things up for the embarrassed politico. An injection was administered first. That did not work. After struggling for a long time, they had to pull out some blood and soon things returned to normal.The story behind the drama surfaced only when one doctor joked with another about that “old b..ger.” He had taken a stronger dose of Viagra and the ecstasy, like his dreams to make Sri Lanka a paradise, went beyond expectations and became an agony.


 

Vasu slams Yankee Wickie
The two-day debate in Parliament on the OISL findings over alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka saw plenty of ‘America bashing’ by those in the ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa Group’.

Ratnapura District Parliamentarian Vasudeva Nanayakkara was more acidic. In the years past, former President J.R. Jayewardene, he said, was called “Yankee Dickie.” Charging that the United National Party (UNP) has always been pro-American, Mr. Nanayakkara dubbed the UNP leader, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, as “Yankee Wickie.”


 

A stitch at five times: Probe on uniform tender
Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiaratchchi has ordered an inquiry into a tender for stitching uniforms for one of the armed services, called five different times.

At the first tender, there was only one bidder. Thereafter, the tender was called a second time and the same bidder won the award. While that remained, tenders were called on three more occasions. The original bidder’s proposal was the lowest but the award had gone to the highest bidder.

Officials from the Ministry are now checking documents. Also under investigation is an allegation that after the probe was ordered, some officers were asked to provide backdated letters to say there were faults in the stitching.


 

Act fast, Speaker  tells Commissions
House Speaker Karu Jayasuriya who chairs the Constitutional Council has told heads of newly appointed independent commissions to take steps to clear the backlog of work in their institutions. It includes those from the Public Service Commission, Police Commission and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

The heads were summoned to a meeting at the Parliament complex on Thursday.The need to follow a criterion that already exists when making nominations to different independent Commissions was also discussed. This time, after these Commissions were activated, 441 names had been suggested to the nine institutions.

It transpired that two names, that of leading President’s Counsel Faisz Mustapha and former State service official Soma Kotakadeniya, had not found any slots.


 

Tamil leaders salute Tamilini
This week Northern politicians were busy to pay their last respects to the LTTE’s former Women’s Political Wing Leader Tamilini alias Sivagami who died last Sunday at the Maharagama Cancer hospital.

The public and politicians from the North and East were in Paranthan on Tuesday at her parent’s residence where the last rites took place. Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians and local councillors visited the funeral house and took photos of them attending and shared the pictures on social media and Diaspora websites.

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, though he did not attend the funeral, issued a condolence message on the former Tiger guerilla leader’s death revealing a little known fact. He said he was very proud to hear of her courage to turn down a request by the then Mahinda Rajapaksa Government to contest the 2010 Parliamentary elections while she was in a rehabilitation camp.

“Even though our society is a male dominated one, her leadership to the liberation struggle opened a new way for our women to be recognised that there are no gender inequality in our society,” he said in the condolence message.

She was one of the key LTTE members who made her way into a camp for the displaced persons after mingling with the civilians. It was at the camp that she was spotted by fellow displaced persons and taken into custody.

Soon after, she was released from the rehabilitation camp and went to her parent’s home to lead a civilian life. She married a diaspora based writer and migrated. She returned to the country soon after she was diagnosed with cancer and was admitted to the Maharagama Cancer Hospital. She was 43 years old.


Police to 

President Maithripala Sirisena told Wednesday’s weekly meeting of ministers that he had asked Police Chief N.K. Illangakoon to seize vehicles from former ministers and deputies. The move follows a shortage of vehicles for use by the present Cabinet of Ministers.

President Sirisena said the use of those vehicles by former ministers was unauthorised. A Government source said at least one politico had claimed that his ‘boss’ had told them that they could continue to use the vehicles. However, soon after President Sirisena was voted to office, the perks for former ministers and their deputies continued.


 

High Court to probe war crimes
Laws are on the drafting boards to set up a High Court to deal with alleged war crimes. Government sources said yesterday that these laws would be introduced in Parliament ahead of the domestic mechanism to probe alleged war crimes.


 

Searchlight on top cop’s mansion
A top cop allegedly building a mansion costing more than Rs. 50 million in the immediate outskirts of Colombo is to be called upon to explain how he raised the money. The wall around the house alone is said to have cost around five million rupees, a source at Police Headquarters said.


 

Driving force behind ethanol
Police investigations relating to a politico who allegedly imported ethanol in large quantities during the previous administration have made an interesting revelation. The licence to import the spirits had been obtained in the name of his personal driver.seize vehicles from former ministers, deputies

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