Family members of hundreds of people missing as a result of terrorist or subversive activity or civil commotion for more than one year will be able to apply for death certificates under a special provisions bill to be taken up in Parliament on Tuesday.
This Registration of Deaths (Temporary Provisions) Bill also enables the next of kin of members of the LTTE, including its leaders to apply for death certificates.
Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister John Seneviratna who is introducing the Bill said that it would benefit families of Sri Lankans who were reported missing for more than a year. This would include LTTE cadres.
“There is no special mention of a particular category of people but if the missing persons were citizens of this Please turn to Page16 th certificates
country, their next of kin can apply for a death certificate on their behalf,” he said.
He said the bill would be of special benefit for missing public officials for whom payment of compensation or other benefits due to them could not be given until they were issued with death certificates.
Once the Bill is passed an applicant would need to submit an affidavit along with the application setting out the grounds for his/her reasons that the person, whose death is sought to be registered, is dead.
This Bill will also provide for the registering of deaths of persons missing due to natural disasters or calamites in the country. |
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