The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, since he is a lawyer, I am not sure if I should repeat this. But let me remind the House that under the Universities Act, names are proposed by the University Council to the UGC—the University Grants Commission. The UGC then submits its recommendation to the President. There is absolutely no ministerial intervention in that process. The Vice Chancellor is appointed by the President; the UGC shortlists from the names. In respect of those three universities—Rajarata, South Eastern and Eastern—the UGC informed me that after analysis they rejected those proposals because there were issues with the marking scheme used. The UGC had notified both the concerned universities and His Excellency the President. Therefore, the UGC decided to advertise and recall applications, and restart the process due to deficiencies in that marking scheme. Those same professors can re-apply. During that period of three to four months, it is true that we reconstituted the Councils; that happened. However, there is no connection between that and the appointment of Vice Chancellors.

¶ 02 The situation at the University of Ruhuna is entirely different. The university became ungovernable: students, non-academic staff and others went on strike. The Vice Chancellor could not even enter the premises. Since there is a court case pending, I will not go into detail. But, as Minister, I appointed a Competent Authority under the powers vested in me by law.