The Sri Lanka All Telecommunication Employees Union filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court today, seeking an order prohibiting the Treasury Secretary from taking any action to divest his shares in Sri Lanka Telecom PLC.
J. B. Gurusinghe, President of the Sri Lanka All Telecommunication Employees Union, and Kamalanath Hettiarachchi, General Secretary of the SLT, filed this petition in response to the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision in principle to divest the Secretary to the Treasury’s shares in the SLT.The petitioners stated that the purported decision is said to be implemented by the purported State Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit. The petitioners said they are unaware as to when this decision was taken in principle by the Cabinet of Ministers and such a decision has not been made public.
The petitioners contended that the ostensibly arbitrary decision to divest the shares also affects other State sector shareholders, including the Employees Provident Fund, Bank of Ceylon A/C Ceybank Trust, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd Fund, Employees Trust Fund, National Savings Bank, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd General Fund, and Bank of Ceylon No. 1 Account.
The petitioners claimed that the decision was made without public consultation or consultation with SLT employees, including the petitioners’ trade union. They also stated that the decision violates the sacred concept of public trust and the spirit of the Constitution because the Government of Sri Lanka and public corporations in which the State is the majority shareholder own the majority of the shares in the SLTCompany (54.01%).
This petition was filed by Manjula Balasooriya, an attorney.
