Challenging petition fixed for Sept. 21
Alienation of state properties through Selendiva Investments Ltd
• PM’S proposal to bring Canwill Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (Grand Hyatt), Hotel Developers Pvt. Ltd.
(Hilton) and the Grand Oriental Hotel under a single entity jointly owned by the Treasury, BOC and SLIC approved by the Cabinet
A Fundamental Rights petition filed seeking an order preventing the Treasury Secretary from taking steps to sell, lease or alienate state properties, vested with Selendiva Investments Ltd. was yesterday (15) fixed for September 21 by the Supreme Court.
The petitioner G. Kapila Renuka Perera, the Secretary of the Professional’s National Front Sri Lanka (PNF) filed the petition through Attorney-at-law Dharshana Weraduwage. Supreme Court threejudge-bench headed by Justice Gamini Amarasekara permitted the petitioner to file an amended petition since the duties and functions of the Cabinet of Ministers have been changed since July 8. The petitioner has named PM. Mahinda Rajapaksa, treasury Secretary S.r. atty galle, the Director General of the Department of Public Enterprises P.a.s. athula Kumara, Selendiva Investments Limited, auditor General W.P.C. Wickremaratne, Security and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, Colombo Stock Exchange, the Registrar General of Companies, Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC, Hotels Colombo (1963) Ltd, Bank of Ceylon, Canwill Holdings (Private) Ltd, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd, The Monetary Board (CBSL), Litro Gas Lanka Ltd, Urban Development Authority, Secretary to the Cabinet, Selendiva Leisure Investments Ltd. and the Attorney General as respondents. The Petitioner states that, on or around the 18th of May, 2021, he had seen a press briefing of cabinet decisions which included information relating to several approved proposals including; State-owned Canwill Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC and Hotels Colombo Ltd have been already vested in Selendiva Investments Ltd at present.
The petitioner said Selendiva Investments Ltd has been incorporated in accordance with a Cabinet approval granted on or around 24th of March 2020 with 100% ownership vested with the Secretary to the Treasury to form a stateowned Property Development Company with the objective of transforming the State-owned Hospitality Portfolios to optimum performance level through appropriate restructuring. He said that an Investment Facilitation Model based on Public Private Partnership has been planned by Selendiva Investments Ltd with a view to facilitating the identified state-owned institutes and investments. It has been identified to implement three investment portfolios as ‘Heritage Square in Colombo Fort’, ‘real Estate Development’ and ‘State-owned Hospitality Sector’, the petitioner added.the Petitioner states that the proposal made by the PM to bring Can will Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (Grand Hyatt), Hotel Developers Pvt. Ltd. (Hilton) and the Grand Oriental Hotel under a single entity jointly owned by the General Treasury,
Bank of Ceylon and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, was approved by the Cabinet.
The petitioner further states that cabinet decision dated on or around 17th of May, 2017 is said to have authorized the Selendiva Investments Ltd to utilize the services of Foreign or domestic Consultants or Marketing Companies to assist and promote its affairs contrary to the Government Procurement Procedures.
The Petitioner states that in the event the respondents attempting to implement the cabinet decision made on or around the 17th of May, 2021 which includes the incorporation of the Selendiva Investments Ltd and Selendiva Leisure Investments Ltd would create a vehement breach of Rule of Law of the Country.
The petitioner further feared it could create irreparable damages to the cultural heritage of the country since some of the properties contemplated to be vested with the Selendiva Investments Ltd are said to be Historic and architecturally valuable buildings listed to be preserved including in the City of Colombo Development Plan 1999.