Claims and counterclaims by church and lellama protesters continue despite interim order
Despite the recent interim order given by the Negombo district court, the controversy and protests over the Negombo lellama or the fish auction bay continue.
The dispute went to court after the Catholic Church asserted its ownership over the lellama, the second largest in the country.
Fishermen who depend on it say more than 5,000 boats set sail from here for fishing, and it is the main source of living for thousands of fisher families and others engaged in buying, selling, transporting, and providing services like food and drinks to the crowd that comes there.
The controversy came to light after a group of fishermen claiming to be the leaders of the fishermen belonging to Pitipana Lellama protested in front of the Bishop’s House in Borella, shouting slogans against the Catholic Church.
In 1961, Rev. Fr. R.D. Charles took steps to set up the lellama in the present location after he saw the difficulties the fishermen went through at a dilapidated lellama in Kattiduwa.
He formed “Pitipana Meesame Eksath Dheewara Samithiya‘ for the benefit of the fishermen in Thalahena, Basiyawaththa, Aluthkuruwa, Mankuliya, and Pitipana, all in the Pitipana Parish, and appointed B. Benadict Fernando, a well-respected community leader, as the first president of it.
In 1963, Colombo's then Archbishop, Thomas Cardinal Coorey, handed over the management of the Lellama to the Eksath Dheewara Samithiya in Pitipana through a gift deed.
But as the conditions laid out in the deed had been violated by the management, Archbishop Oswald Gomis filed an action to revoke it.
Negombo's District Judge Lalith Kannangara issued an interim order on February 2, 2024, to appoint a church committee to take over the management of the lellama, now known as the Negombo Fisheries Market.
Pitipana parish priest, Rev. Fr. Anton Ranjith, told the Sunday Times, “The lellama belongs to the church. The late Cardinal Thomas Coorey had given it as a gift deed to a the Samithiya, subject to certain conditions. However, later, as the requirements mentioned in the agreement had not been fulfilled, Bishop Oswald Gomis made the gift deed null and void. Now the present Cardinal, who is dedicated to seeking justice for people, wants to see that the lellama's earnings are distributed among all the fishermen in the surrounding villages.
However, the fishermen who are objecting to the church's moves over the lellama said they always invited the parish priest to their annual general meetings. "We were cooperative with the church. Whenever they asked for money, we provided it. Even the roof of the church was done with our money. Laying floor tiles at the altar was done by us. At every annual meeting, we present our budget. Every cent is accounted for by our treasurer," a protestor said.
He contested the church's claim that there was a clause in the agreement calling on the samithiya to share part of its income with the chruch to be spent on the needy.
"The church filed a case in 2006. Still, the case is going on. We are engaged in many social welfare activities among fishermen. For example, if a member meets with an accident and loses his life, we pay Rs. 100,000. We annually provide school books to Pitipana Maha Vidyala children," he said.