The Hon. Aravinda Senarath
On behalf of the Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation Minister, Aravinda Senarath answered a question on a State land lease, stating that possession had been handed over in 2011 after ministerial approval and that later sublease or mortgage arrangements required the approval of the Land Commissioner General. He said the relevant party was Nalaka Rathnayake – Ambewela Wind Power (Pvt) Ltd., and that in a sublease the third party does not pay lease rent to the Government. He further stated that after SLBC’s lease was cancelled for non-payment, approval was given to mortgage the land to one of the subsequent lessees, and that lease arrears of Rs. 2,867,640 identified in 2025 had led to instructions to proceed under the State Lands Ordinance and cancel the lease.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, I provide the following answer.
¶ 02 (a) (i) Yes.
¶ 03 (ii) Yes. Based on recommendations submitted in 2010, approval was granted by the Hon. Minister on 2011.02.07, and possession for use was handed over on 2011.05.12.
¶ 04 (iii) Yes.
¶ 05 (iv) No. Any sublease or mortgage thereafter requires the approval of the Land Commissioner General; without such approval, such disposals are not legal.
¶ 06 (v) Nalaka Rathnayake – Ambewela Wind Power (Pvt) Ltd.
¶ 07 (vi) In the case of a sublease, lease rent is not paid to the Government by the third party.
¶ 08 (b) (i) Yes. After cancellation of SLBC’s lease due to non-payment of lease, approval was given to mortgage the land to one of the two parties to whom it was subsequently leased.
¶ 09 (ii) No.
¶ 10 (iii) No. Under the State Lands Ordinance Regulations, there is no provision requiring recovery of arrears up to the date of mortgage or sublease as a precondition.
¶ 11 (iv) By letter of the Divisional Secretary dated 2025.09.08, lease arrears of Rs. 2,867,640 were observed. Accordingly, by letter dated 2025.10.03, the Divisional Secretary was instructed, under Sections 85/86 (Regulation 212) of the State Lands Ordinance, to proceed and thereafter cancel the lease.
¶ 12 (c) Not applicable.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 5 February 2026 ·No. 23269 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Aravinda Senarath. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 February 2026. No. 23269. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/12954