Hon. Sunil Handunnetti - Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development
The Minister stated that 118 employees at Ceylon Mineral Sands Limited had been recruited outside the approved cadre and procedure, including due to political preferences during the election period, and therefore had not been paid salaries. He said the company has sought approval from the Department of Public Enterprises to fill 118 approved labourer posts, after which the current casual workers will be placed properly, initially on contract from March, with no intention to terminate them. He added that payments outside the approved cadre would create audit issues and that job security would be ensured once formal approval is received.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, the answers are as follows:
¶ 02 (a) (i) Yes. (ii) Those employees were recruited outside the approved cadre and outside proper procedure; therefore, salaries have not been paid. By way of context, 118 persons were recruited outside the cadre, largely due to political preferences, including during the last election period. (iii) The Ceylon Mineral Sands Limited has already sought approval from the Department of Public Enterprises to recruit to 118 approved labourer posts. Upon receiving approval, those currently on casual basis will be properly placed in those labourer posts and paid salaries. We have discussed this; we do not intend to terminate any worker. However, if we pay salaries outside the cadre, audit issues arise. The Department of Public Enterprises has verbally agreed; once written concurrence is received, we can proceed with recruitments from March, initially on contract basis. (iv) As stated, once approval is granted, those on casual basis will be properly placed in the institution’s labourer cadre ensuring job security.
¶ 03 (b) Does not arise.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Saturday, 8 March 2025 ·No. 1743142289059261 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: Hon. Sunil Handunnetti - Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 8 March 2025. No. 1743142289059261. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/8196