Three persons had submitted a petition to Southern Provincial Galle High Court Judge Manjula Thilakarathna, pleading for a Writ of Mandamus directing the Southern Province Governor’s secretary to hold the respective competitive limited examination for the appointment of officers of the Southern Provincial Government Management Assistant Service (SPGMAS), to the supra grade of the same position.
The petitioners pleaded for the suspension of the decision of the Southern Province Governor’s secretary, to recruit personnel to fill the existing supra grade vacancies in the service based on the merits of the respective competitive examination held in 2016.
Diyunage Prasanna of Bataganwila, Galle; Metaramba Kanaththa Gamage Nalina of Uluwitike, Galle; and Gothatuwe Parana Widanalage Hemantha of Gothatuwa, Baddegama; had filed the application for the Writ of Mandamus.
The Southern Province Public Services Commission located at the Galle District Secretariat, SP Public Service Commission’s secretary, SP Governor’s secretary, Southern Provincial Council Secretary, W. H. Nandani of the Southern Province Ayurveda Department, M. Sandya of the Tissamaharama Base Hospital, K. K. Jayanthi of Matara, the District Engineers’ Services Office, A. W. P Malkanthi of the Matara Cooperative Development Commissioner’s Office and G. H. S. Dayawathi of the Southern Province Chief Secretariat had been cited as respondents.
The first respondent is the appointing authority of the above appointments, while the second respondent is the secretary of the said commission. The fourth is the appointing authority of the Provincial Council subject to the approval of the first respondent and the third is the secretary to the SP Governor. The fifth to ninth respondents are the prospective appointees whose appointments are challenged by the petition.
The petitioners, in their submissions, had stated that they were Grade 3 officers of the permanent cadre of the SPGMAS who had applied for the limited competitive examination 2018, for the promotion to the super grade of the same post.
They charged that despite the fact that there were numerous officers who were eligible to be promoted to the supra grade after sitting for the due competitive examination, the first respondent allegedly promoted officers based on results of the examination held two years back, in 2016. However, when the case was taken up in courts, the respondents, who assured to stop the alleged process of promoting officers to the supra grade until a decision over the petition was arrived at, requested for a date to make their submissions with regard to the petition.
The Galle High Court Judge, considering the submissions made by the defence, postponed the hearing of the case till August 9. The petitioners were represented by Attorney-at-Law Rajindra Narangoda.
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