Agri grads shut out of department jobs as legal dispute continues
Thousands of agriculture graduates seeking jobs in the Agriculture Department have to wait until the Agriculture Department and eight fundamental rights petitioners, including the All Ceylon Agriculture Instructors Association, sort out a legal dispute.
Some 4,000 graduates from the universities of Per a de ni ya, R uh una, Sabragamauwa, Jaffna, UvaWellassa, Wayamba and Batticaloa are eligible to apply for the 665 vacancies in the department. But the recruitment process came to a halt when a dispute arose when the eight petitioners to a fundamental rights case alleged that the process was contrary to the proposals they had submitted through court.
The Sri Lanka Agriculture Graduates Association told a media briefing this week that the impasse had not only created unemployment for 655 graduates, but denied the cream of young agriculturists the opportunity to serve the country.
The media conference was presided over by H. M. Ranatunge Bandara. In their fundamental rights petitions, the petitioners had challenged the Gazette notifications pertaining to the closed/ open examinations for Grade III officers in the Agricultural Service.
They had also challenged through another petition the letter issued by the Public Service Commission. An agreement was reached between the parties, but the petitioners now allege the department is acting in contrary to it.
The media briefing was also addressed by Dr. Gamini Samarasinghe, Director of the Horticultural Crop, Research and Development Insitute, and Dr. Lakshmi Priyantha Additional Director ( Seed Production), among others.