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Court of Appeal dismisses union’s challenge to CEB’s restructuring
View(s):The Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed in limine and without costs an application by the Ceylon Electricity Board Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) against aspects of the utility’s restructuring plan and a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) proposed for employees.
Consequently, the Court refused to issue formal notice on the respondents, including the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), its Chairman (Prof) K.T.M.U. Hemapala (who is also Energy Ministry Secretary), CEB Board members, other CEB officials, Energy Minister P.S. Kumara Jayakody, Power Sector Reforms Secretariat Director General Pubudu Niroshan, the four new companies formed in the process of unbundling the CEB, the Cabinet of Ministers and Cabinet Secretary W.M.D.J. Fernando.
The petitioners were the CEBEU, its office bearers and the two secretaries of the CEB branch of the Nidahas Sewaka Sangamaya and the CEB Transport Workers’ Union. They requested writs of certiorari and prohibition seeking to quash proposed assignation letters—formal notices sent by the CEB to its officers and employees informing them of their proposed assignment to the respective successor companies—and a published voluntary retirement scheme.
Justices S.U.B. Karalliyadde and Dr D.F.H. Gunawardhana took the view that the petitioners were not entitled to the reliefs prayed for in the petition. The Court found that assignation letters were issued in compliance with the Sri Lanka Electricity Act of 2024 and that the CEB had adhered to a legally mandated 14-month time frame by sending the letters before the deadline.
The Court held that the law only requires the CEB to “notify” its employees of their “proposed assignation”. It did not require the utility to provide additional information such as job roles, duties, place of work or career progression pathways in their assignation letters.
Among other things, the Court also held that the new assignation terms would be “not less favourable” than those currently enjoyed by employees, and existing promotion schemes, codes of conduct, and disciplinary codes would continue to apply until new ones are adopted by the successor companies.
Crucially, the court found that the transfer plan is not required to be published prior to notifying the employees of their proposed assignation, especially since the preliminary transfer plan is only mandated to be published on the day preceding the appointed date.
Regarding the VRS, the Court acknowledged that the VRS was published, citing a section of the Act that had not yet come into operation. However, it agreed with the Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) that the Minister of Energy had made a technical error by citing Section 50. It found that the terms and conditions of the VRS should be prescribed under Section 18 of the Act and that the Act does not require these terms and conditions to be published.
On the petitioners’ grievance that the gazetted VRS lacked a specific time frame for compensation payment, the Court stated that the gazette clearly laid down the criteria for calculating compensation. Thus, the absence of an express provision regarding the payment period did not render the scheme defective.
Among other things, the petitioners argued that their assignation letters were arbitrary and unreasonable and that the letters did not contain adequate information necessary for employees to make an informed decision regarding their assignation.
Specifically, the letters failed to provide details on the assigned job role of the employees; duties; place of work; career progression and promotion pathways; corporate structure of the successor companies; management of the companies; human resources policy; and transfer policy of the successor companies. The petitioners also said it was arbitrary and unreasonable for respondents to demand that they respond to the assignation letters within two months of receipt.
Manohara Jayasinghe, DSG, appeared along with State Counsel Prabashinee Jayasekera for the Ceylon Electricity Board and the CEB Chairman. The application was supported by Shantha Jayawardena with Hirannya Damunupola, instructed by Sanjeewa Kaluarachchi, for the petitioners.
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