News

News

Staff shortage at Govt. Analyst's Dept.
Decentralisation with three regional offices, cadre increase to ease people’s woes
By Mahangu Weerasinghe
Many suspects have been forced to spend prolonged periods in remand custody while litigants have long waits for their cases to be taken up because of delays in the Government Analyst's Department. The Government Analyst's Department has for many years been short-staffed and has been operating at less than half its strength despite a backlog of a staggering 25,000 cases, Government Analyst E.G Somapala said.

In the circumstances, Justice and Judicial Reforms Minister John Seneviratne revealed plans last week to decentralise the department. The department currently has thousands of files scattered around while the rooms containing the samples are full, making it difficult for the staff to provide a better service.

"Primarily, we are running out of space as there are a large amount of illicit liquor samples. We had more than 17,000 bottles of illegal brew brought in last year, and we are having problems in finding storage space," Mr. Somapala said.

"There are plans to open three branches in Anuradhapura, Matara and Badulla," he said adding that decentralisation would help expedite testing of samples. He said only the testing of illicit liquor and minor drug possession cases would be handed over to the area offices. Cases of drug possession of more than two grams, explosives, firearms, blood and food testing will continue to be carried out in Colombo.

With the main cause of the backlog being severe under-staffing, Mr. Somapala provided figures to prove the point. "In 1973 the department had close to 43 cadres and was handling some 7,000 cases a year, but now we have just 24 employees and we are handling close to 28,000 cases a year," he said.

Decentralisation alone does not appear to be a remedy as policy changes would be needed to overcome the current cumbersome recruitment procedure. Mr. Somapala said recruiting people to the department is a complicated process.

"We only recruit Chemistry honours graduates," he said adding that the Sri Lanka Scientific Service must do all the recruitment. Due reportedly to bureaucratic lethargy, 19 vacancies in the department had not been filled for the past two years.

"In the early 90s an examination was also introduced as a part of the recruitment process," said Mr. Somapala, who sees this as highly unnecessary since all applicants must have a Chemistry honours degree.

"Ministry Secretary Suhada Gamlath has helped in accelerating the recruitment process," said Mr. Somapala, adding that five out of the 19 positions should be filled by the beginning of August. Public Administration Secretary S. C. Manapperuma has further assured the department that he will do his best to fill all the vacant positions by the end of the year.

"My people are working hard under a lot of pressure to keep up with the flow of cases," he said. The Government Analyst’s Department is also planning to get a new building. "We have space constraints and a more spacious building would expedite the evaluation process to no end," Mr. Somapala said. The Department has now found a suitable plot in Battaramulla and construction of a building is being planned.

Top

Back to News