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Police
promotion under fire The establishment of the eight-member National Police Commission (NPC), aimed at ensuring that promotions are free of political or other influence and that the right person is promoted at the right time according to seniority and merit, was welcomed by the rank and file. But to their dismay, allegations of irregular promotions keep surfacing. Two weeks ago, more than 3,200 officers, including reserve police constables, were promoted with some of them receiving promotion letters at a ceremony presided over by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Commander-in-chief, at President's House. Political
flavour The NPC announced the promotions just ahead of yesterday's provincial elections amidst the UNP's criticism that this could add a political flavour to the promotions. Generally, promotions are aimed at boosting the morale of officers and encouraging them. The message is that the good work is recognized. But when promotions are marred by irregularities, the result will be counterproductive, with frustration setting in and good police officers being discouraged. Irregular promotions are often followed by allegations. Several Supreme Court rulings in the recent past have upheld petitions of aggrieved police officers who were denied of their promotions. The criteria for police promotions are seniority and merit. The track record of the officers appear to have been ignored in the recent promotions. It is alleged that officers, who face fundamental rights violation charges and officers who have been charged with murder, rape, bribery and corruption have been promoted. Also among them were some officers who had quit the force and rejoined after several years. To make matters worse, the first list of names prepared for the President's House ceremony was withdrawn at the last minute because of a detection that the list contained the names of some officers who faced criminal charges or were respondents in fundamental rights petitions. Instead of withholding the promotions of the controversial officers, the Police headquarters sent a revised list to President's House. Among some of the glaring cases that were detected was that of Inspector A. D. Samarakoon, who has been sentenced to death for the murder of a beauty queen at Kobeiygana in the Kurunegala district in the late in 1980s. The inspector, who is in prison, has appealed against the sentence. Another case was that of STF Inspector S. S. B. Madakumbura who was accused of killing Tamil youths and dumping them in the Bolgoda lake soon after the PA government was elected to office in 1994. He is now residing abroad. Inspector W. M. Abeyratne, who is serving a jail term, was another officer who was promoted. Inspector A. R. Deharagoda who had been out of service for 18 years and then rejoined the force in 2001 has been promoted as Chief Inspector. He was not the only officer to be promoted in this manner. Chief Inspector A. B. Divelgama who had vacated post for four years has been promoted as ASP while Assistant Superintendent G.D.A.K. Senaratne has been promoted as Superintendent despite being on two years of no-pay leave. Some of the ASP promotions also raise the question as to how such promotions have been made when the results of an exam held in 2000 are yet to be announced. Takeover In one instance, DIG Gunasena Thenabadu who was in charge of higher training, in-service and exams, prepared a list of officers to be promoted and sent it to the NPC in September 2003, but with the takeover of the Interior Ministry by the President in November, the list was discarded and another list was prepared. Some of the officers on the first list passed interviews. Shattering their expectations, they were told that the promotions had been held back. Another promotion scheme proposed by the then Police Chief T.E. Anandarajha was also ignored after the takeover of the ministry. The recent promotions have been granted without any interviews but were based on seniority and merit alone. Some of the aggrieved officers argue that seniority and merit would carry little weight if the track record was bad. Inspector A.H.M.W.B. Herath who has been out of service and does not have the minimum requirement of five years in continuous service, is another promoted officer. The recent promotions have provoked some aggrieved officers to file fundamental rights applications. Rejecting the allegations, National Police Commission Chairman Ranjth Abeysuriya defended the promotion scheme adding that they had not deviated from the guidelines given by the then IGP Anandarajah. "We were acting according to guidelines of the former IGP and in concurrence with the Supreme Court rulings regarding promotions," he said adding that persons who had not got promotions would naturally be unhappy. Asked about the allegations that persons who had been convicted had been promoted, Mr. Abeysuriya claimed that those officers were placed on a 'reserved list' and this did not mean they had been promoted. However, aggrieved police officers refute this claim. Mr. Abeysuriya admitted that no face-to-face interviews were conducted, but defended the move by saying that they decided on the promotions only on merit and seniority. The issues of promotions always have an impact on the performance of the officers and is bound to have an effect on the quality of the service of the police force. The purpose of appointing the National Police Commission may be negated if the promotions are not made according to their seniority and merit as claimed by the commission. Aggrieved officers call for the appointment of a commission to probe the promotions made by the independent National Police Commission. The
clash of the circulars The IGP in a letter dated February 3, 2004, has also requested the Senior DIG to ensure the implementation of the system of promotion adding that in future promotions to PCs, to PSs, Pss to SII & SII to IPP will be handled by DIG Personnel, under the IGP's directions with the concurrence of the National Police Commission. However the National Police Commission said they were following the guidelines set by the former IGP, T. E. Anandarajah. Seminars,
schols, UN jobs Earlier the subject was handled by DIG Higher Training Institute, Gunasena Thenabadu. The IGP has claimed that selections and nominations for scholarships, seminars, conferences & UN Missions have not been properly handled earlier.
Pre-dawn carnage at Puttalam temple They said Ven Kothumnewe Saddhaseela, the 70-year-old Nayaka Thera of the Siri Mangalarama temple was the only resident at the temple when the attack took place. D.R.M.Priyantha, a resident living close to the temple, said he had first noticed the fire around 2 a.m. and alerted the villagers. He said when they rushed to the scene they found the charred body of the chief monk, who had been residing in the temple for ten years. Assistant Superintendent of Police, W.J.B. Wekadapola said they were checking about a claim that a vehicle had left the area around the time the incident took place. |
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